Woman Sentenced To 18 Years For Killing, Burying Hubby In Front Yard
TARRANT COUNTY (CBSDFW.COM) - A 63-year-old Pelican Bay woman who killed her husband and buried him in their front yard was sentenced to 18 years in prison.
Just before jury selection began in her murder trial on Monday, Neola Robinson reached an agreement with prosecutors in state district Judge Robb Catalano's court. She pled guilty to murder in the May 31, 2010, death of her husband, Ervin "Shorty" Robinson, 57.
In exchange for her guilty plea, prosecutors Joshua Ross and Tiffany Burks agreed to the 18-year prison term. They also agreed to dismiss a separate charge of tampering with evidence.
She must serve half before she is eligible for parole.
On June 16, 2010, Shorty Robinson's boss filed a missing person report after Robinson failed to show up to work for two weeks. Neola Robinson initially told investigators with the Pelican Bay Police Department that her husband left on Memorial Day weekend with another woman. Investigators, however, questioned why he left the home that he owned without and money, no personal belongings, his vehicle or his motorcycle. It was also discovered, through bank records, that Neola Robinson was forging checks belonging to her husband in order to pay bills after the time of the disappearance.
Despite an intense investigation into his disappearance, including the execution of a search warrant at his home in Pelican Bay, the case went cold after efforts to locate Shorty were unsuccessful. Texas Ranger Clair Barnes took over the investigation in the summer of 2013. His suspicion, and that of everybody who knew Shorty Robinson, was that Neola was responsible for his disappearance. That suspicion was confirmed when Neola led him to the location of Shorty's body, buried a mere 15 inches into the ground in the front yard of the residence in the 1500 block of Partridge Court. An autopsy of the remains revealed that the cause of death was strangulation.
Neola Robinson had told Ranger Barnes that Shorty Robinson was killed unintentionally when he was cut with a knife that she held during a heated argument about the discord in their marriage.
The evidence, throughout the course of four years, revealed otherwise, according to investigators.
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