Lowell Amos

I am a bit torn on this case. I am not so much torn on the guilt or innocence of Lowell Amos in the crime in which he was convicted, but more so on the legalities that were allowed in the courtroom that procured his conviction. I do not have an issue with a jury knowing that a defendant is a bad person and had committed crimes previously. I do believe in the instances in which a defendant has been convicted of other crimes, similar or not that the jury has the right to know, but in most jurisdictions that is only allowed into the courtroom after the person has been convicted for the current crime they are facing and a sentence is being considered. That however was not the case in Michigan when Lowell Amos was convicted in 1996 in the murder of his third wife. The prosecutors were allowed to tell the jury about the “suspicious” deaths of both his two previous wives as well as the death of his mother. The issue I have with this is that it was not until he was suspected of murdering his last wife that investigators began looking at the other cases, nor had he then, or has ever been, charged in those cases. But, here I go getting ahead of myself again.

I do want to make clear that while researching this case I was amazed about how much of the information was lacking or contradictory. It is not like I have never had a case in which things are unclear but to the extent I found them here rarely occurs in a case so recent in history. I generally find these sorts of things in very, very old cases. I tried to gather as many facts as I could through an appeal that was published, in an attempt to clear up some of the issues but I was not completely successful. The Lifetime Channel made a movie about this case and an article pertaining to the movie and telling facts of the case was the most confusing. I found it to be one of the most unreliable articles I have read recently, but in keeping with my quest to have as many facts as possible I attempted to clear things up a bit. I intend to tell this story obviously the best way that I can and if some of the timeline seems to be off, I apologize.

On December 10, 1994 security in a hotel in Detroit Michigan was called to the room occupied by Lowell and Roberta Amos. It was hotel security who would then call the police. Inside the room lay the body of Roberta Amos.

Lowell Amos was a plant manager for General Motors. While things did not seem to be specific it appears that the couple lived (and Lowell worked) in Anderson Indiana, some three hours away but the home of at least one GM plant. The company had a Christmas party for their executives in Detroit on the night of December 9^th. Other occupants of the party and the hotel would say they had seen the couple until about 4 or 4:30 that early morning when they went back to their room. Security had been called to the room about 10:00 that morning. When the coroner arrived around 11:00 he would estimate that Roberta had been dead somewhere between four and eight hours. However, co-workers of Lowell's would tell investigators that they received a call from Lowell around 8:30 to come to his room and they too had seen the body of Roberta at that time. This narrowed the time of Roberta's death to between 4:30 and 8:30 that morning.

Lowell would tell investigators that the couple had returned to their room and while engaging in sex had also used cocaine. He would claim that Roberta had a “sinus problem” so she had not snorted the drug but had injected it through a syringe in her vagina and also rectally. He stated that he had fallen asleep before Roberta and had woken up that morning to find her dead. Whether he willingly at the start told investigators that he had first called fellow executive, Norbert Crabtree, who called Daniel Porcasi, is unknown. They would however soon learn of this either way. Somehow I tend to doubt that Lowell's initial story included his first phone call, but I have been wrong before.

Investigators were immediately suspicious. Roberta's body appeared as if it had been cleaned prior to their arrival. There was cocaine residue around the body but none externally ON the body. There was also residue from make-up on Roberta's pillow and yet there was no evidence that she was wearing make-up at all. Investigators did not have enough to hold Lowell initially as they needed a lot more to prove this was not an accidental death. First they needed a report from a medical examiner.

Through an autopsy it was determined that cocaine had been the cause of death for Roberta. However several things still stuck out about the results that did not clearly say this was an accidental overdose. First, reports state that the amount of cocaine in her system was over fifteen times a lethal dose. This indicates that it would have been nearly impossible for Roberta to continue to use the drug on her own. Secondly, the examination revealed that while there was cocaine residue in her vaginal area, that was the only area and they believed that it had been diluted with water and injected with a syringe. Strangely though, no matter how much Lowell had even proclaimed this to be the case, no syringe was found in the hotel room, another sign of some sort of clean up.

In the meantime while awaiting results investigators would talk to both Norbert Crabtree and Daniel Porcasi. They stated that Lowell told them that Roberta died in an accident but it is unclear if he was specific as he had been with the police. I was kind of lead to believe that he was not considering the fact that Porcasi would state that Lowell had asked him to take his (Lowell's) sports coat with him and it appears that Porcasi was later surprised to find a leather case inside a pocket with a syringe and no needle. Porcasi had also found what he described as a “foul-smelling” wash cloth. After the two men left Lowell Amos in the room with his deceased wife, they went to their own rooms and it was said that they “hastily” packed up and checked out of the hotel. It was only after they left the hotel, with at least the sports coat, that Lowell called security.

Some of my research stated that police began surveillance on Lowell and it was during this that they discovered that two days after Roberta had died he had spent over $1,000 on dinner and drinks with two woman who he then had sex with. However, other research indicates that this information came to them via Norbert Crabtree. While all of this was going on and some investigators were looking at the relationship between the couple, others were looking further into his past.

Friends and/or acquaintances of Roberta's apparently told investigators that the marriage was basically ending and that Roberta had stated she wanted Lowell “out of her life.” Of course it is nearly impossible to know that these statements were true but it appears that investigators were able to determine that Roberta had recently bought a house for herself. I have to admit this part bothers me a bit. Of course every marriage is different not just in how the couple are when things are good, but also when they are bad. It just seems odd to me that if Roberta bought a house (which I can only assume it was proven she did), that she had done so without either a) filing for divorce, or b) telling Lowell. To be fair I cannot say for certain that Lowell did not know but it does not appear that a divorce was filed by either of them. It just seems off to me that if Roberta had said the things that people say she did, that she would go with him to the party for his work. Either way if in fact the house she bought was for her own use, regardless if Lowell knew about it or not it would appear that this time would have been an opportunity to get things moving forward.

To investigators Lowell had indicated that the use of cocaine by the couple that night was not a “one time” thing and as if it was something that was done on a regular basis. I found nothing in my research that said any discounted, or even backed Lowell's account when it came to drugs. Her body had shown no external signs of previous drug use. When interrogated about his actions on the morning of her death Lowell would say that the reason he called Crabtee first was so that when the police came the cocaine and the paraphernalia would be gone and he would not get charged with possession. Now, whether he claimed to have flushed any remaining cocaine down the toilet is unclear. I found nothing to say that either Crabtree or Porcasi saw any cocaine or was given any. What this tells me is either we are to believe he was mindful enough to flush it, which is possible since he gave the syringe and rag to Porcasi, or that Roberta had used all of the cocaine left in their possession and it just so happens that the last of what they had was what had caused her overdose.

Digging into the scene and their relationship a bit more investigators did not find that there was an insurance policy on Roberta. This will come into play and be a bit significant as the story goes along and actually works in Lowell's favor. Although there were reports that he couple had rented a safe at the hotel for their valuables and that when Lowell retrieved them he made a comment about the value of Roberta's watch in a way that was indicated that he intended to get cash for it.

As I stated earlier, investigators were also looking into Lowell's past and what they found was very suspicious. Lowell had been born, raised and lived in Anderson Indiana. Most indications are that he remained living there and likely was still living there at the time of Roberta's death. Even though I have lived in Indiana all of my life I know very little about Anderson. Looking at research it indicates that it is not a very big town as they have about 55,000 people in the area. It appears that the population has been on a steady decline over the last several years due to GM closing their plant in Anderson. It seems that there had been several in Anderson for many years and at least a fourth of the workforce worked at one of the plants. My research indicates that while in 1996 they were headed for a decline, there was at least one plant still open there and I can only assume that is the one Lowell Amos worked for.

In January of 1979 Lowell announced his candidacy for mayor of Anderson. Eleven days later on January 24^th his thirty-six year old wife, Saundra would be found dead in the bathroom of their home. Lowell told police that apparently Saundra had mixed a sedative with wine and went into the bathroom where she collapsed and hit her head. Officially her cause of death was listed as indeterminate but it does not appear that any sort of investigation was made. It was found that Lowell received $350,000 in life insurance payouts.

At some point later Lowell married again. His second wife's name was Carolyn. In 1988 they split up. It has been said that the split was caused by “many arguments over large insurance policies.” Lowell went to go live with his elderly mother, Mary. A few weeks after Lowell moved in with her she went to the hospital with some sort of mysterious illness. It appears that despite not really knowing a cause of any kind she got better and was released. She went home where several days later she died. My research indicates that there was no autopsy performed due to the fact that she was elderly and her death was considered to be a natural death due to her age. After Mary died Lowell received around a million dollars in insurance benefits.

Friends say that soon after Mary died Carolyn went to the home and found Lowell putting his belongings in his car and told her of Mary's death. For whatever reason at that point Carolyn allowed Lowell to move back into their home. Nine months later Carolyn would be found dead inside the home, in the bathroom, just like Lowell's first wife had. Lowell told the police that she took a glass of wine into the bathroom (sound familiar?) and was blow drying her hair next to a bath full of water. He believed she was electrocuted. I am unsure if an autopsy was performed but my research indicates that a cause of death was not found or listed. Investigators would say that the glass she allegedly took into the bathroom was not in the room with her when they arrived but already cleaned in the dishwasher. Lowell received $800,000 in insurance benefits this time.

Now, knowing his past investigators believed that Lowell had given Roberta a glass of wine with crushed sedatives so as to knock her out (did an autopsy show the sedatives???). They believe that he then diluted the cocaine in the syringe and injected it into her vagina. When she did not die as fast or as soon as he expected he then placed a pillow over her, smothering her. Now... whether this was all based on theory or there was evidence to support all of these allegations, I cannot say for sure.

But, in 1994 Michigan had changed their law that allowed them to let a jury know all about the strange deaths of Lowell's other wives and his mother. It seems that after learning this for their own investigation they had informed the local authorities in Anderson Indiana of their connections and it was said that they re-opened the cases of all the women. However, it appears that as of this time no charges have ever been brought against him. Whether that is because in the end Lowell was convicted and sentenced to life in prison without parole in November of 1996 and the cost to taxpayers seemed useless, or they never found enough to charge him is unknown.

Over the years Lowell Amos has attempted to appeal his case but each time it has been rejected. The last appeal I found was from 2007 in which Lowell filed pro-se. One of the arguments in the filing stated there was misconduct by the prosecutor. Reading further in the argument was that he prosecutor portrayed him as a “bad man.” I found this argument more than a little humorous. There was also mention in the appeal that he had been ordered to pay $13,000 in restitution for Roberta's burial. Who he owed that to is unknown.

For those who want to research this case on their own, which I totally encourage people to do as you should never rely on one source for answer, I have a warning to be careful what you find. As I stated earlier there was an article about the case that referred to a Lifetime movie that was being made. In that particular article it stated that Lowell Amos had been denied parole in 2005 and was facing the parole board again in 2009. I found this extremely odd because I had already read more than one article stating that he had received life without parole. A search of the Michigan Department of Corrections website confirmed that the sentence was without parole as there is no expected release date or parole hearing. The article was riddled with other things that contradicted things I had already read about, such as when Lowell's mother died compared to his second wife Carolyn. I based the facts and conclusions that I gave here on other articles and the appeal papers that I came across and very little was taken from that article unless I could confirm it elsewhere.

I really am torn about this case. Despite Michigan law I disagree with the fact that the jury was able to hear about the cases involving his two other wives and his mother. No charges were or ever have been filed and as far as I can tell there was only suspicion. I know there are those who say there is no such thing as a coincidence and the fact all three of his wives and his mother died suspiciously would appear to be odd. But, even still it does not appear that anything could be proven in those cases. I also believe despite any facts or proof there was in Roberta's death there seemed to be at least one huge difference in her case than in the others... insurance. If we are to believe that Lowell Amos also killed two previous wives and his mother for insurance and had obviously gotten away with it, where was the insurance pay out in this case? Where did Lowell Amos benefit other than the supposed money he may or may not have gotten from a watch belonging to Roberta? Did she have money of her own? If she did it was never specified or at least I could not find anything in my research pointing to that.

With that all being said, do I think he is likely guilty and is exactly where he deserves to be? Absolutely. But, I also think Drew Peterson is where he should be and yet I do not think his trial was necessarily fair. I believe that in both cases things were allowed to be entered into the court that were pure speculation or laws were changed to get things entered that were generally not allowed. For me this is dangerous ground to be treading on. These sorts of cases can show precedence and the next prosecutor who is convinced they have their “man” can show the courts these cases to allow this sort of testimony and “evidence” into the next trial. Who is to say the next person is not you... me … or someone close to you and the matter of guilt is not so certain?