Roth Portrayed As Cold Killer

Several witnesses described Randy Roth as cold and aloof as he "methodically deflated the raft" while medics were performing "aggressive resuscitation" on his wife, according to King County prosecutors.

Roth, 36, of Woodinville was charged yesterday with first-degree murder in the drowning of his wife on Lake Sammamish last summer. Bail was set at $1 million.

Roth showed little emotion today as his attorney, George Cody, entered a plea of not guilty. An Oct. 24 hearing date was set by King County Superior Court Judge Carmen Otero, who kept Roth's bail at $1 million.

A 20-page document filed yesterday by King County prosecutors to support the murder charge says detectives interviewed several witnesses who described Roth's behavior in the water and later on shore as "odd."

Roth is not only an insurance company's worst nightmare, say prosecutors, he's a man who will stop at nothing - including the murder of his wife - for money.

"The case is based 100 percent on circumstantial evidence," said Cody. He said he will try "to hold the state's case up to the light" and would begin doing some of that during an arraignment hearing today.

Roth, who remains in King County Jail today, was the sole witness to the deaths of two of his four wives - Janis Louise Roth, 29, who died in November 1981 while rock climbing in Skamania County, and Cynthia Roth, who drowned July 23.

In both deaths, according to documents filed by Senior Deputy Prosecutor Marilyn Brenneman, Roth gave conflicting accounts about what happened. Both women were cremated shortly after their deaths.

Roth collected $365,000 from two insurance policies on Cynthia and $100,000 worth of insurance on Janis, according to court documents. Skamania County Sheriff Ray Blaisdell said yesterday that his office had reopened the investigation into the death of Janis Roth.

King County prosecutors contend new evidence should play a powerful part in buttressing their case.

On the day of Cynthia's death, Roth said he and Cynthia and her two sons had gone to Idlywood Park near Redmond to cool off in Lake Sammamish.

While the boys were swimming in a wading area, Cynthia suggested it would be "romantic" to take the raft across the lake. While swimming, Cynthia was hit by a cramp, then the wake from a power boat flipped the raft on top of her, Roth said.

After he righted the raft, he said, he found Cynthia face down in the water.

Witnesses said Roth rowed slowly back to shore, which seemed unusual in an emergency. Medics on shore tried unsuccessfully to revive her at the scene, then transported her to Overlake Hospital, where she was officially pronounced dead.

Prosecutors also point to tests that they performed on Roth's raft in an attempt to simulate the incident. Detectives were not able to tip the raft despite repeated attempts, in many cases allowing power boats to pass within 10 yards.

A female officer, who was portraying Cynthia Roth in the videotaped re-enactment, was only able to overturn the raft after grabbing it from underneath and pulling it over with her full body weight. A large air pocket was created between the bottom of the raft and the water.

Prosecutors also indicate that there is evidence that the raft never overturned at all. They point out that there were several plastic bags full of towels and clothing. In the simulation, many of the items sank within five seconds. When Roth returned to shore, all the items were wet but intact.

"Investigators conclude it would be impossible for the defendant to have gathered several bags of loose clothing items from the water, as many or most would have already sunk," Brenneman wrote.

In their 2-month-long investigation, King County detectives focused on the 10-year span of Roth's life beginning shortly before the death of Janis Roth. Through statements of friends and family members, they have painted a picture of a cold, calculating man, who on several occasions staged burglaries to obtain insurance money and bilked the 8-year-old daughter of his first dead wife out of her Social Security payments.

Roth, who was raised in the Everett area, was divorced from his first wife, Donna Sanchez, when he married Janis Miranda in March 1981, after a monthlong courtship.

Shortly after a $100,000 insurance policy went into effect, Janis died in a 300-foot fall on Beacon Rock in Skamania County.

Janis' 8-year-old daughter, Jalina, "received no portion of the insurance money or of the proceeds from the later sale of the home," Brenneman wrote.

Shortly after her mother's death, the girl moved to Texas to live with her natural father. According to court documents, Roth later lied to an insurance investigator, saying the girl was not home because she was "visiting relatives for the holidays."

Also, Roth applied for Janis' Social Security benefits in the girl's name and collected the money for several months before federal officials discovered he did not have custody of the girl.

Detectives interviewed Jalina, who is now 18, and she recounted several things about the events leading up to and after her mother's death, including the fact that Roth took money her mother had been hiding from Roth.

Jalina said her mother showed her the money, which was in an envelope behind a dresser drawer, shortly before she died in the fall, and said she wanted Jalina to have it if anything happened to her. Jalina went to get the money after her mother's death, but Roth saw her retrieve it.

Roth "told Jalina he would buy gifts for her with the money. Jalina never saw any of the money or received anything from Roth after that day," Brenneman wrote.

Other information comes from a man Roth worked with at the time. The man and his wife often socialized with the Roths.

On Halloween, a month before Janis died, the man said he and Roth were taking their children trick-or-treating when Roth began asking the man if he could ever kill his wife. The man told Roth "the conversation was weird," and changed the subject.

Later, after Janis died, the man told police that he asked Roth for more details about what happened, and Roth answered that he didn't want to tell the man anything that the man may later "have to lie about."

The man also told police about two phony burglaries Roth committed, including one at the man's own house.

In 1985, Roth married Donna Cliff. Shortly after the wedding, she said Roth showed her a large insurance policy that he had obtained on her. Cliff left Roth a few months later, after discovering Janis' ashes in a box in Roth's closet. Roth had never told her about Janis, she told detectives, and she "was scared of him."

Another woman told authorities that she began a relationship with Roth in 1986. She said Roth told her that Janis died in a mountain-climbing accident on Mount Rainier. He elaborated, the woman said, that Janis' ropes became loose and she slipped from his arms as she was trying to retie the ropes.

The woman said she and Roth were planning to be married and eventually Roth brought up the subject of life insurance. When the woman told Roth that she had once been diagnosed with cancer and couldn't obtain insurance, he grew cold toward her and ended the relationship, she said.

Roth met his fourth wife, Cynthia, last summer while she was working at a Little League concession stand. Cynthia's first husband, Thomas Baumgartner, died of cancer in 1985, leaving Cynthia and their two young sons financially secure, Brenneman wrote.

After a month-long courtship, Cynthia married Roth in August 1990, and he and his son moved into her Lake Stevens home. Later, they sold the house and bought a bigger house in Woodinville.

Dr. David Roselle was on duty at Overlake the day of Cynthia's death. He told a detective that Roth requested that an autopsy not be performed on his wife.

Shortly after Roselle told Roth that autopsies were mandated by state law, Roth was asked by a detective if he had attempted to perform CPR. Roth said he had not, which contradicted an earlier statement he had made at the scene, when he told Cynthia's son that he had performed CPR on Cynthia.

Shortly before Cynthia's death, Brenneman added, she had reserved two airline tickets to Reno for a first-year wedding anniversary trip. A week after Cynthia's death, though, Roth approached a woman co-worker and asked her to go with him to Reno; otherwise the tickets would be "wasted."

The co-worker declined Roth's offer.