Ch 42:Paula and Jason Utterback

   

   When I first read about this next case; I immediately thought of Jeffrey Hand and the Pamela Milam case because the victim was left in her car trunk.  Then I remembered that Hand was in state hospital custody from mid year 1973 to mid October of 1976. So this one couldn’t have been committed by him. 

   Sometimes I think I should rename this blog “Trigger Warning”.  All these cases are terrible.  This one is no different and it may even be worse as it involves the murder of an infant. 

   On the morning of November 14, 1974, Mrs. Paula Utterback,19, had finished work and had picked up her five month old son, Jason, from the babysitter. 

   I remember when my babies were five months old.  At that age babies are finally sleeping a bit more through the night. They are smiling and playing with toys.  They are crawling and getting into all sorts of things. Mine were a tremendous amount of fun at that age. 

   Paula left the babysitter and was headed home. She had worked the night shift as a desk clerk at a Westside Indianapolis motel.  She was sitting at a stoplight when a man approached her car.  He had a gun and forced his way in.  Fearing for the safety of her baby and herself; Paula complied. 

   David J Roberts was the man with the gun.  He drove the car to an isolated area and raped Paula twice. He locked her in the trunk of the car and continued driving around.  At some point before abandoning the car, he left little Jason on the side of the road.  It was very cold overnight and Jason was not discovered until morning.  He had frozen to death. 

   Roberts abandoned the car with Paula still locked in the trunk.  She used a tire iron to bang against the inside and make enough noise to be noticed and rescued.  

   Paula survived her terrible ordeal but Jason was gone.  What an unimaginable tragedy. 

   I wonder if Robert’s felt comfortable driving around in a stolen car all day because he knew it couldn’t have been reported stolen. He also knew that a missing woman and baby couldn’t be reported missing for 24 hours.  So he used up as much of that 24 hours as possible. 

   David J. Roberts  was captured quickly based on the description given by Paula.  He was well known to law enforcement.  

   This was not the first time that he had raped a woman and left her in the trunk of her car.  That earlier victim in 1966 also survived.  Roberts pled guilty and was tried and convicted…of armed robbery…not rape.  But, remember, rape was not considered a violent crime and sentences for it were not long. The prosecutor probably saw that an armed robbery conviction would put him away longer.  It was also difficult to get juries to convict on rape. They rarely believed the women. Women were often blamed for their own rapes. “How did she get herself into that situation?” That was the reality of the early 70’s when only men were making the laws. That earlier victim who was raped and locked in her trunk? Robert was charged with armed robbery and was sentenced to 12 years but only served part of that sentence before being paroled.

  But that was not his most recent crime. What was his most recent crime before the Utterback abduction? Murdering and burning Bill and Ann Patrick and their one year old daughter, Heidi,  in their New Whiteland, Indiana home. He was motivated to do this because he thought they were going to give evidence against him in the theft of some tires. He was free awaiting trial on that one. (He was eventually convicted of these three murders and sentenced to death.)

  After two mistrials he was finally convicted of the abduction and rape of Paula Utterback and of the Jason Utterback murder. In addition to Paula Utterback’s testimony there was a witness at a gas station that spoke to him and sold him a bag of chips shortly before the abduction. The gas station attendant was a man and his testimony likely held more weight with the jurors than that of Paula Utterback.  Regardless, Roberts was finally off the street. 

    In 1975, he was scheduled to be executed but was granted a stay of execution because an appeal was pending. 

    A new legal development occurred in 1978. The 1971 Rape Shield Law had been used to overturn the 1977 conviction of an accused rapist, Merle Lee Hall.  Hall was then granted a new trial. David J Roberts’ attorneys decided to use that case precedent in their appeal. 

    In that 1978 appeal his lawyers attempted to get his conviction overturned by saying that his prior history had been used against him. (The 1966 rape where he left the victim in the trunk of her car.) His lawyers also claimed that Mrs. Utterback made up the rape story as a cover because she just wanted to abandon her baby. He brought up the fact that she had another baby when she was a teen but gave it up for adoption. I don’t think that’s a logical argument. She was familiar with adoption and could have given Jason up for adoption as well.  She was working.  She wasn’t in a desperate situation. 

    The appeal was not granted. His sentence was reduced to six consecutive life sentences instead of the death penalty.  

    David J. Roberts then continued to serve his time.  But, during an October 1986 hospital visit; he escaped. 

    I cannot imagine how terrifying his escape must have been for Paula Utterback.  She must have thought that she might be his target. 

   But Roberts did not stay in Indiana.  He made his way to Staten Island, New York and blended in with the people on the street.  He sought help from a local shelter then began volunteering and was eventually hired as a Director of that shelter.

    An episode of America’s Most Wanted featured his story. A board member of the shelter saw the show and recognized the man he knew as “Bob Lord” was actually a wanted fugitive.  In 1988 he was arrested on the job and returned to Indiana to serve out the rest of his six consecutive life sentences.  

    I want to end this post remembering the victims. Bill, Ann, and little Heidi Patrick deserved to live their lives. They were a young family just starting out. 

   Jason Douglas Utterback, whose five months of  life ended in the cold on 4508 E. 38th Street in Indianapolis on November 15th, 1974, would have turned 50 as I write this in 2024. He was just a baby and never even had the chance to learn to walk or talk. May these victims rest in peace.