Julia Phillips
Of
course it is not unusual for a spouse or a significant other to
murder or attempt to murder the other. Everyone knows that they are
the first people that are looked at. This is still true no matter the
age of the victim or suspect. But, this case was a bit different in
many ways. The victim, Melvin Roberts, was seventy-nine years old,
his girlfriend could have been about sixty-six at the time of his
murder. I say could be because one of the articles I read indicated
that no one knew for sure just how old she was but I calculated it by
the age they stated at her death. The biggest thing that stands out
in this case is that Julia Phillips would ultimately be convicted of
accessory to commit murder but not only would she not be accused of
committing the murder, authorities have never discovered who did.
As
is often the case, defense attorney's have argued that the
authorities used tunnel vision in their quest to solve the case of
the murdered York South Carolina lawyer and former mayor. They would
claim that investigators refused to look at anything that did not
point in Julia's direction. Of course prosecutors deny this and
claim that all evidence led to Julia from the beginning as being
involved in the murder.
By
February of 2010 Melvin Roberts and Julia Phillips had been a couple
for about ten years. It was said that Melvin paid all of Julia's
bills and had even bought a building for her to house a boutique.
But, after all this time it seems the relationship was strained and
Melvin was looking to get out. A friend of Julia's would testify at
her trial that Julia had told her that Melvin had stopped given her
money or paying her bills and would not have anything to do with her
or even touch her. However, it does appear that on the night of
February 4, 2010, Julia's birthday, the couple had been out together.
The
couple returned home that rainy night and pulled into the driveway of
Melvin's York home. It was there that Julia would claim that they
were attacked by an unknown black or Hispanic male. When it was over
Melvin would lay dead in his driveway. It appears that someone had
shot “at” him as a piece of his clothing contained a bullet
wound, but no bullet struck him. He had been hit over the head but
his ultimate cause of death was strangulation. Julia would call 911
and claim that she had been held in the rain for up to an hour and a
half while her head and wrists were duct taped but otherwise
unharmed.
Investigators
were suspicious from the start. According to the officers on the
scene despite her claims of being out in the rain, Julia's clothing
was not wet. On top of this the duct tape that was around her wrists
to supposedly bound her was not tight and she could easily maneuver.
This was definitely not an indication that the supposed attackers
were trying to subdue her.
Three
months after Melvin's murder Julia would be arrested and charged with
accessory to murder. She would apparently also be charged with
stealing thousands of dollars from Melvin before he died. She would
be released on these charges on house arrest pending her trial. She
would spend the three years on house arrest in the home she had been
allowed to live in after the 1999 death of her former husband. Her
former stepdaughters who technically owned the house quickly moved to
have her evicted but the judge allowed her to stay pending her trial.
The stepdaughters would also have their father's death re-examined.
His body would be exhumed but I found nothing about the results, nor
was Julia ever charged. There may have been more information
surrounding his death and the results of the exhumation but Melvin's
murder and Julia's trial would overshadow that issue.
Police
did not believe, then, nor do they believe now that Julia was the
actual perpetrator in Melvin's murder. She was simply too old, small
and weak to have strangled him. At her trial in September of 2013
the prosecution would present a witness who would claim that Julia
had attempted to hire him to kill Melvin at some time. As is always
the case the defense argued that this witness had little credibility.
Prosecutors would show the jury that before calling 911 to report
the murder, Julia had called her son, William Stephens. Police
looked at Stephens as a suspect in the slaying and at one point they
arrested him on drug and fraud charges. Stephens maintains that that
arrest and subsequent conviction were attempts by authorities to get
information on Melvin's death. Either way authorities were never
able to prove anything against Stephens. In the end they decided
that his alibi checked out and so they knew he was not the actual
murderer but they could not prove that he did not know what had
happened. It seems to this day Stephens maintains he knew nothing of
the crime or his mother's involvement or even if she was involved.
The
jury was shown a series of interviews that Julia had given to the
police in which her story seemed to change over time. Gun shot
residue was found on her clothing which the prosecution stated showed
she was near the gun when it was discharged. The defense argued no
one knows how or when that GSR got on her clothing. Speaking of
gunshots, there was another issue brought up at her trial. The
defense hired a private investigator and he stated at the trial that
when he went into the home of Melvin's after the murder he observed a
bullet hole in the couch but he could not determine when it had been
fired. When he was cross examined by the prosecution he also had to
admit that he could not say with complete certainty that it was a
bullet hole.
The
defense put a few of Melvin's neighbors on the stand to testify of
things they had seen in the time leading up to the murder. One
stated he saw two men walking from a wooded area sometime that
evening apparently. Another claimed to have seen a black Lincoln go
into and out of Melvin's drive at a high rate of speed a few times
the week leading up to the murder. While prosecutors argued that
Julia committed the murder due to the fact that Melvin was cutting
her out of his life and a fear that he would cut her out of his Will
also which gave her the building housing her boutique, the defense
argued that she continued to have money.
The
jury apparently believed the prosecution theory. They saw the
interviews that Julia did with the police when they asked her the
critical questioned such as how was she able to talk to the
prosecutor as she at one point claimed when she also claimed her
mouth was covered with duct tape. The same held true when she gave a
more detailed description of the perpetrator including hair style and
body type when her eyes were said to be covered. I would also gander
to guess they would ask her how she got the telephone and dialed it
with her wrists tied. After a two week trial the jury convicted her.
She was given a life sentence.
From
the time of her conviction, until the time of her death in July 2016
Julia continued to maintain her innocence. It was said that after
her death investigators planned to accompany prison officials in
going through her things in her cell to see if anything could
possibly lead them to the person or persons that had been involved in
the crime. As far as I could tell this has not happened as of yet.
Melvin Roberts' children are offering a $10,000 reward for this
information.
I am William Hunter Stephens, Julia Phillips' son. I was with a retired SC State Trooper and his wife at their home working on their computer the night of Melvin's murder. I still don't know what really happened exactly. I have some pretty good theories. I have fully cooperate with investigators. I had and still have not any knowledge of the planning of the murder nor did I participate in ANY part of it.There are things about people that could possibly be involved that need to be told. However it would expose a lot of powerful and rich people's "dirty secrets." I'd like to know the truth and the whole truth. There had to be someone else involved. In my last interview with police in 2017 I was taken to a secret room at York City Hall (not the police station) to avoid the press knowing about the interview. There I was told the case was cold and they needed my help. They harassed the couple I was with that night for years trying to get them to change their story. Police knew I wasn't involved, and still know. I am still thought by many to be guilty by association. I am not a killer. I've made many mistakes in my life but I don't have killing inside of me. It's very difficult for me to believe my mom did, but I have to yield to the possibility.
ReplyDeleteMom is gone now but I am the only one left, other than Melvin's sons, who longs for the truth. I long to find out who really killed Melvin Roberts. I really wish I knew for sure. As I said I do have some theories. Good ones. Police did nothing about what I told them.
I have a question. If my mother hired someone to kill Melvin, where's the money trail. My mother was broke. Investigators said themselves mom was desperate for money and only had a dollar or two in her bank account. No money trail was ever established. And the gun shot residue (GSR) test violated every FBI protocol of how it was to be done. You can see in pictures taken that night of police officers handling my mothers sleeve as they helped her down the driveway. The test was performed at the police station after mom had been handled by police, road in a police car to the station and was at the police station when the GSR was done. FBI protocol states a GSR is to be done as soon as possible AT THE SCENE so no contamination is probable. My mom could have easily been contaminated by any of the officers who not cleaned their weapons, etc. In case you don't know, GSR is highly transferable.
I know someone close to the case, a man my mother knew who was actually part of her ex-husband's family, who for a month came to my mothers store for a solid month and he and mom would sit down front and whisper and talk for hours. When he'd come in if I was there he'd say "don't tell L___/ you saw me here." This man had plenty of money and was a pillar of the community. However as he was once part of my step family I know so much dirt on him its unbelievable. I mean sensational stuff.
I have reached out to different press agencies, papers, etc trying to get them to listen to me but they won't. Why? Because they know I know all the dirt on a lot of people close to the case. I have so much to tell, and some of it is very frightening. Just one example and the last thing I'll say for now. In discovery material photographs we went over, there are photographs of a cap in the front yard of Melvin's home. My aunt and I looked in astonishment as after the first photograph of the cap we went to the second shot. I was able to zoom in on it. On the front of the cap in gold letters was "YORK POLICE." I've never been given a reasonable answer as to why it was there. Makes you wonder. There's so much. I only wish I could get these things out to the public. Until now its been impossible doing so. But I will not stop or give up till I get what I know out there. Not till the day I die.
W. Hunter Stephens