Third Wife Found Ashes Of Wife No. 2, Roth Says

Randy Roth today said he kept the ashes of his second wife in a box, which was instrumental in the breakup of his third marriage and the later failure of a serious relationship with another woman.

Roth, who is accused of first-degree murder in the drowning of his fourth wife in Lake Sammamish last summer, testified again today in the fifth week of his trial in King County Superior Court in Seattle.

Roth said that both his third wife and the other woman were jealous that he kept the ashes of Janis Miranda Roth in a wooden box. Janis Roth died in 1981 from a fall at Beacon Rock in Skamania County.

Donna Clift, his third wife, found the box in his closet weeks after she married him in 1985, Roth testified. He said she was upset and gave him an ultimatum.

"I was unwilling or unable to deal with finding a proper place to dispose of the ashes, as she put it. She told me to get rid of the box," Roth said. He said he hid the ashes in the attic and told Clift that he got rid of them.

The prosecution has presented a largely circumstantial case that portrays Roth, 37, as being cold and detached after the deaths of two of his wives, both of whom were well-insured. He is accused of drowning Cynthia Baumgartner Roth, 34, last summer, in an effort to collect $385,000 in insurance.

Roth also described today how another woman, who testified earlier that she almost married him, threw Janis Roth's ashes in a garbage can while they were living together.

"She felt I should be able to recover and go on with my life," Roth said. "I was very upset about that."

The woman was Mary Jo Phillips, who has testified that Roth suggested she get fitted for a wedding ring. But when she told him she had cancer and was uninsurable, the relationship ended.

After hearing several prosecution witnesses testify about Roth's lack of emotion, jurors are getting a firsthand look.

When they heard Roth describe yesterday how his second wife slipped and "cartwheeled" to her death off Beacon Rock, they were likely not only concentrating on what he said but also how he said it.

Roth's answers to open-ended questions from his attorney, George Cody, were precise, thoughtful and clinical.

Roth described the death of Janis Roth with a matter-of-fact, monotone delivery.

"She stepped up and came down with her left foot and the earth broke," said Roth. "She did almost a cartwheel in which her first contact with the ground was with her head and shoulders."

Roth, who said the hike was his wife's idea, added that she "hollered" as she tumbled off the cliff.

Prosecution witnesses have testified that Roth gave conflicting statements about how his wife fell.

In some versions, he was walking ahead of her. In another, she walked toward the cliff to take a picture and slipped.

Roth testified he continued to hold out hope that his wife was alive when he heard radio transmissions that rescuers had found her. But he sounded distant when describing in court how he saw his wife lying in the aid car.

"She didn't look as badly damaged as one of the individuals described," Roth testified. "Her hair was matted with blood, but her face didn't look bad."

Neither Roth's mother, Elizabeth Roth, nor any other member of his family was in the packed courtroom yesterday, but the mother said from her area home that far too much emphasis is being placed by prosecutors and media on her son's demeanor.

"Randy and his brother were brought up by their father, who didn't allow them to show emotion," she said. "He (Randy Roth) was reprimanded for it. That's just the way he was brought up. The prosecutors are presenting him as cold-hearted and cruel, but he's not."

Defense attorneys have not called any of Roth's family as witnesses and are not expected to do so.

Roth's mother said she has stayed away from most of the trial because "it's too heartbreaking for him to see us there. He'd rather just face it alone."

Roth yesterday spoke several times of "family-oriented" matters and described certain people, such as a prospective baby-sitter, as "the individual."

He also presented different accounts of events than those given by prosecution witnesses:

-- He denied stealing an envelope of money from the hands of Janis Roth's daughter, Jalina Miranda, shortly after the death in 1981.

In fact, he described his attempts to keep custody of Jalina, who finally went to live with her natural father.

A Social Security representative has testified that Roth filed for Social Security survivor payments for Jalina even after she was no longer living with him.

-- He denied asking a former friend a month before Janis Roth died if he could "ever kill your wife." Roth said he could only speculate that Tim Brocatto may have drawn his "own interpretation" of something he said.

He also denied helping Brocatto stage a fake burglary at his house to collect insurance money, partly so Brocatto could repay a loan to Roth.

"I was not involved in that," Roth testified. "This was new information to me when Tim was in here testifying."

-- He denied calling his life-insurance agent at home, seeking to collect on a policy, the day after Janis Roth died.