On April 26, 2005, police in Durham, North Carolina responded to a home 2606 Ferrand Drive, after receiving a frantic phone call around 10 p.m. Twenty-five-year-old Raven Abaroa had returned home from a soccer game to find his wife, Janet, deceased in their home. He told police at first he thought she’d been shot because there was so much blood around her body. She was lying on her back in an upstairs bedroom when police arrived on the scene. Blood stained the walls of the bedroom as well as an area near the side entrance to the home. Their six-month-old son, Kaiden, was unharmed in his bedroom. He told police Janet had been getting ready for bed around 8 p.m. when he left to play soccer with some friends. When he came home, he found her on the floor, lying on her stomach. He said when he rolled her over, he realized how much blood soaked her body. Raven also said he had hugged his wife when he realized how injured she was.
Young Romance
Janet and Raven met while both were attending college at Southern Virginia University in Buena Vista, Virginia. Janet played soccer for the college and was a two-time Academic All-American. She came from a large, close-knit Mormon family and was the seventh of 10 siblings. Raven also grew up in the Mormon faith and played soccer for the university. After two years of dating, the two were married in 2000 at the Mormon temple in Washington, D.C.
By the Tuesday after her death, investigators with the Durham police department revealed that Janet had not been shot in her home, but stabbed. They also made a very interesting statement, saying in a new release, “Nothing in the investigation so far indicates that the homicide was a random act.” There were no signs of a break in, but Raven did say a computer was missing from the home after the murder.
Behind the scenes, investigators were learning that the young couple had been having marital and financial issues for most of their short marriage. Not long after they were married, Raven told Janet that he wanted out of the marriage and that he had been seeing other people. Of course, she was devastated. But not long after the separation, she discovered she was pregnant. She was conflicted, because Raven didn’t want to be married anymore, but she didn’t want to raise the baby without a father. The two eventually reconciled and they welcomed Kaiden into their lives on October 17, 2004. Raven promised to be faithful and devote himself to their family.
Janet and Raven had been renting the home on Ferrand Drive since the previous August, and their landlord Peter Greijn told the media he had just negotiated a deal with the couple so they could lower their rent payments for the next year. The blue two-story house on 2606 Ferrand Drive sat at the end of a dirt and gravel driveway surrounded by a wooden fence. It was picturesque but also provided a level of privacy that made it easy to see why no one in the area heard anything the night of the murder.
A Marriage in Financial Turmoil
The couple had both recently lost their jobs and were struggling to make ends meet before they secured other forms of employment. Raven and Janet had both worked at a local company in Hillsborough called Eurosport, where Raven was accused of embezzling thousands of dollars. The February before Janet’s death, he was officially charged with five counts of embezzlement.
Police took numerous items from the Abaroa home following her murder, including a block of knives from inside the house, a bear claw knife with a case, and a Dodge Durango parked in the driveway. They took soil samples from the vehicle’s undercarriage and fender wells, as well as trace evidence from the driver’s seat and floorboard, Janet’s hands, and clothing Raven was wearing when he found his wife.
Police also seized information from Janet and Raven’s e-mail accounts from between noon on April 1 and 5 pm. on May 16 to determine “if any electronic mailing occurred prior to, during or after the murder of Janet Abaroa. Investigators were looking to see if there was any suspicious activity, threats or clues to the identity of possible suspects associated with the murder.
A Husband Who Embezzled
Four months after Janet’s murder, Raven Abaroa pleaded guilty to five counts of embezzlement in the Orange County Criminal Superior Court. Raven had moved to Utah to be closer to his family shortly after Janet’s death and made the trip back to North Carolina for the court hearing. The charges stemmed from when Raven was working for Sports Endeavors, Inc. which owned the company Eurosport, a mail-order catalog company for sports equipment. He would place orders for shoes, have them delivered to his home, but then would not pay for them. He was ordering 25-30 pairs of shoes at a time and then reselling them. The shoes were valued at approximately $100 a pair.
Superior Court Judge Wade Barber had no idea Raven’s wife had been murdered. He only found out when he asked Raven where he was employed and why he had moved out of state. Raven’s attorney explained Janet had been murdered and Raven had relocated to Utah for help with his then 10-month-old son. Judge Barber asked Raven what he did with the money he received for selling the shoes, and Raven replied, “I repaired cars, paid bills.”
The judge put Raven on supervised probation for two years, and agreed to have it transferred to Utah. The judge also sentenced him to five to six months in prison but suspended the sentence. He was ordered to pay $9,600 to Sports Endeavors, Inc. in restitution.
Autopsy Results
An autopsy performed on Janet Abaroa revealed she had likely died from a stab wound to the right side of her neck. A second wound to her chest was ruled potentially lethal as well. She had a stab wound on a finger of her right hand. A blood test revealed she was in an early stage of pregnancy.
More than a year after the murder, investigators reportedly enlisted the help of a psychic from Oregon for help with the case. Laurie McQuary, who had appeared on the television shows “Psychic Detectives” and “Larry King Live,” offered services through her company Management by Intuition. The police chief couldn’t confirm whether the lead homicide investigator in Janet’s murder was actually working with McQuary, but told The Durham Sun that it wouldn’t surprise him because he encouraged all his investigators to get creative and think “outside of the box.” Janet’s sister, Dena Kendall, said the family had no issues with investigators using the help of a psychic, as they wanted answers and a resolution to the murder more than anything.
Raven Abaroa Finds New Love
In Utah, Raven was moving on with his life. He met a single mother named Vanessa Pond at Kaiden’s daycare and the two began dating. He told her his wife had died. She went online to try and learn more about the murder, and questioned Raven if he had any involvement in it. He told her he was being framed for Janet’s murder and that he routinely called the police to try and find out what was going on with the investigation. Vanessa decided to place her trust in him and the two got engaged. When Janet’s family found out about the engagement, they felt they had to reach out to Vanessa and make sure she knew what she was getting into.
Vanessa listened to Janet’s sisters, but decided to marry Raven anyway. But even before the wedding in the summer of 2008, Vanessa later told the news program 20/20 that Raven had become verbally and physically abusive. His behavior escalated to the point where she could no longer live with his unpredictable moods and physical violence. She left him after four months and the marriage was eventually annulled. She said after living with him, she believed he may have been capable of murdering his first wife.
Meanwhile, a new detective, Charles Sole, had been assigned to Janet’s case. He began reviewing the crime scene photos and noticed something—an open contact lens case was sitting on the bathroom counter. Raven had told police Janet was watching television in bed when he left to go play soccer around 8 p.m. But Detective Sole knew most people take out their contacts before going to bed. He double checked this with Janet’s family and learned that yes, she never slept in her contacts. She wouldn’t have been able to watch t.v. without them.
Fragments of Evidence
Investigators had Janet’s body exhumed in July of 2010, and they discovered fragments in her eyes that were likely the remains of contact lenses. An ophthalmologist performed a series of experiments using sets of pig eyes and the same conditions used by the funeral home. The results showed the lenses would degrade just as the ones they discovered when Janet’s body was exhumed. Investigators believed Janet had been murdered before she had been getting ready for bed, and the only person who would have been there was Raven.
In February of 2010, investigators arrested Raven Abaroa, then 30 years old, and charged him with murdering his wife, Janet. He was extradited from Idaho, where he had moved to after separating from Vanessa Pond, and extradited back to North Carolina. Assistant U.S. District Attorney Jim Dornfried told a superior court judge that he wouldn’t be seeking the death penalty against Raven, but requested bond be set at $5 million dollars. Janet’s family did not want the state to seek the death penalty against Raven, since Kaiden had already lost one parent. But Dornfried believed Raven to be a flight risk. They had learned that in February of 2009, Raven obtained identification from the California Department of Motor Vehicles where he had changed his last name.
Raven’s Trial Begins
Raven’s trial began in May of 2013 and lasted approximately six weeks. Witnesses for the prosecution painted Raven as a philandering husband who made advances on several of the couple’s female friends and carried on relationships with other women throughout the short duration of their marriage. One of these witnesses was a woman who was still in high school when she met Raven while working at Eurosport in Hillsborough. She took a road trip with him from Greensboro to Charlotte, and Raven pressured her into having sex with him in the car. She said that was the last time she had contact with him.
Another witness shared that Janet said she feared Raven and tried to talk him into therapy. Vanessa Pond testified how Raven verbally attacked her and pushed her into a corner on the night of her bridal shower, telling her he didn’t care if she died. When her parents asked him point blank if he had anything to do with Janet’s murder, he replied, “I loved my wife,” but never directly answered the question.
Raven had also gotten another woman pregnant shortly after relocating to Idaho. He told Vanessa Janet had come to him in a dream and told him it was time to move forward. The woman eventually gave birth to that child and gave the baby up for adoption.
An insurance agent named Scott Lanier testified that Raven and Janet took out life insurance policies while she was pregnant with Kaiden. Janet’s was in the amount of $500,000 and Raven’s was for $1 million. They applied for separate term life insurance as well as renter’s insurance. Raven made a claim on the renter’s insurance after Janet’s murder, citing that he had a computer that had been stolen. Raven tried to collect on Janet’s insurance after her murder and inquired about using the money to set up a trust fund for Kaiden. Lanier said the policies the couple had taken out had contestability clauses, which stated that death within two years of the policies being issued would warrant a fraud investigation.
Janet’s Family Grows Suspicious
Janet’s sister, Sonja Flood, said she found something unusual when Raven came to stay with her family in Virginia in the weeks following Janet’s murder. Inside a duffle bag, Raven had CDs labeled April 25, 2005, the day before Janet’s death. These CDs appeared to be backups to the computer Raven told police had been stolen the night Janet died. Conflicted, Sonja made copies of them and turned them over to police.
But there were several pieces of forensic evidence found at the scene that prosecutors never explained or connected to Raven.
There was a bloody fingerprint found in the room where Janet’s body was found that was never identified. There was a bloody shoeprint found on the floor that was never matched to Raven. There was a smear of blood on a door that was mixed with a partial DNA of an unknown person. Raven’s defense attorney pointed out a string of crimes that had occurred in the neighborhood in the weeks leading up to Janet’s murder, including several break-ins.
Toward the conclusion of the trial, Raven’s defense attorney filed a motion to dismiss the case. They had uncovered new evidence on Janet’s work computer that she had been communicating with an ex-boyfriend via e-mail. The computer had been locked in a cabinet at the Durham Police Department, unforgotten, until the previous week, so no one knew the e-mails existed.
These messages were exchanged in the weeks before her murder. The attorney claimed these e-mails showed Janet was independent and had a will of her own, arguing that she must not have been as fearful of her husband as she claimed. These e-mails discussed the two meeting up in Virginia and Janet said Raven had already accused her of being unfaithful.
Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson denied the motion to dismiss the case.
During deliberations, members of the jury asked to see key pieces of evidence that had been presented. They were interested in Janet’s day planner, two DNA reports, a recording of the 911 call, crime scene photos, photos of Raven at the police station, his clothing, a map of the layout of the home, video and transcripts of the police interviews, and copies of the couple’s phone and bank records. Police had noted Raven’s sweatshirt would have been covered in blood if in fact he had hugged his wife body when he found her. It wasn’t.
Jurors also rewatched a video that Raven had recorded of himself after speaking with Detective Charles Sole. In it, he said, “I’ve got my work cut out for me. I need to win the lottery. This fight, you need money, and you need power.” Nowhere in this video did he mention wanting to find Janet’s “real” killer.
Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson had told the jury that circumstantial evidence, the only kind given in the case, had equal weight to direct evidence under the law and that it was up to them to determine the facts of the case and whether those facts constituted first degree murder.
The jury was deadlocked, voting 11-1 in favor of a guilty verdict. The judge was forced to declare a mistrial.
The juror that voted against convicting Raven was troubled by the discovery of Janet’s work computer at the police station. He thought that if that hard drive was discovered so late in the trial, what else could investigators have missed? He also said he would rather see a guilty man go free than an innocent man do time in prison.
Members of the Jury Speak
A retired clinical nurse on the jury, Alphonso Hayes, told The News and Observer that no one else had motive to murder Janet. Raven’s lifestyle and patterns of behavior convinced Hayes of his guilt. He said nothing in the house was out of place, and that lined up with Raven’s orderly personality. The back deck was covered in pollen and showed no signs of anyone entering in through that part of the house. Other jurors said his defense didn’t do anything to prove him innocent other than showing pictures of him with his son and saying he was a dedicated father.
Raven was set to have a second trial, but before it could start, he accepted a plea deal from prosecutors. He took what is called an Alford plea, which doesn’t admit guilt but means a defendant knows there might be enough evidence to convict him. Raven told the judge that he was innocent, but didn’t believe he’d received a fair trial the first time around. He didn’t want to take his chances with a second trial and wanted to get home to his son as soon as possible. Instead of pleading guilty to first-degree murder, he accepted a plea of voluntary manslaughter.
The plea agreement called for him to serve between seven months, eleven months and ten years one month in prison. He was given credit for the 1,500 days he’d already spent in prison.
After the plea deal, Janet’s father Val Christianson told the media his family was not happy with Raven’s short sentence, but that the trial had been difficult to sit through. “In that trial we saw the dark side of the defendant,” he said. “He was exposed for what he really is; an embezzler, a convicted felon, a sexual predator, and a narcissistic, self-absorbed individual.”
Raven was released from prison on Christmas Day, 2017.
Raven appeared on the A&E television show “Lie Detector: Truth or Deception” in August of 2015. On the show, a retired polygraph examiner with the FBI administered the test. Raven appeared with his now adult son, Kaiden. He told the host of the show that serving time in prison for Janet’s murder continues to follow him to this day. He has a hard time holding down jobs because once his employers find out about his past, they let him go. Kaiden said he has never believed his father was responsible for killing his mother. Raven showed high levels of anxiety during the polygraph, making it difficult to get a clear reading at first. Based on the results of that polygraph examination, the FBI examiner said he believed Raven was truthful when he said he did not stab his wife.
Show Sources:
https://abcnews.com/US/contact-lenses-blew-2005-murder-case-wide-open/story?id=61872691
The Herald Sun
April 28, 2005
Woman’s body found in home on Ferrand Dr.
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The Herald Sun
May 3, 2005
Police say woman stabbed to death
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The Herald Sun
May 4, 2005
Knives seized at scene of slaying
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The Herald Sun
June 11, 2005
Victim’s husband to get hearing
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https://www.wral.com/story/abaroa-stole-15k-in-products-from-job-says-former-boss/12416226
https://www.wral.com/story/119413
The Herald Sun
August 17, 2005
Police search for clues in e-mail
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The Herald Sun
August 24, 2005
Man whose wife was slain pleads to embezzlement
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The Herald Sun
August 29, 2005
Woman pregnant when she was killed
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The Herald Sun
September 28, 2006
Police turn to psychic for help
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The Herald Sun
February 2, 2010
Husband charged in 2005 cold case
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The Herald Sun
February 27, 2010
Murder suspect back in Durham
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The Herald Sun
March 3, 2010
Prosecution won’t seek death in Abaroa case
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The News and Observer
May 1, 2013
Jurors in Abaroa case see photos from 2005 stabbing
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The News and Observer
May 8, 2013
Victim said to have feared husband
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The News and Observer
May 19, 2013
Insurance agent testifies in murder case
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The News and Observer
May 21, 2013
State rests case in Raven Abaroa murder trial
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The News and Observer
May 24, 2013
Brother testifies on behalf of murder suspect
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The News and Observer
May 25, 2013
Defense rests in Abaroa trial
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The News and Observer
May 31, 2013
Abaroa jurors ask to review evidence
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The News and Observer
June 6, 2013
Hearing Thursday to set new trial for Abaroa
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The News and Observer
March 13, 2014
Abaroa takes plea deal in pregnant wife’s death
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The Durham Herald
January 1, 2018
12 years after his wife’s murder, Abaroa released from prison
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https://www.wral.com/story/detective-abaroas-spent-more-than-they-made/12428404
