The Murder of Rob Limon

It still amazes me that in this day and age people think they can get away with murder, especially when it involves a spouse. Of course murderers always seem to believe that they are smarter than investigators and that they can explain things away or lie and not get caught. This is just such a case.

On August 17, 2014 thirty-eight year old Rob Limon was working at the railroad yard in Tehachapi California, about thirty-five miles southeast of Bakersfield. He was shot dead and found in the railroad yard by co-workers. One of the first people notified and interviewed was Rob's wife, Sabrina. Two days after his murder the couple would have celebrated their fourteenth wedding anniversary. They had two children together. Sabrina was asked if either she, or Rob, had been unfaithful or if she knew anyone who would have wanted him murdered. She repeatedly insisted that the couple was happy and faithful to each other.

A few weeks after the murder a couple, who had been friends with Rob and Sabrina contacted the police and told them a new story. It appears that the couple knew that what Sabrina had told the investigators was a lie. It was not completely clear if the couple knew or suspected that Sabrina had been seeing a man named Jonathan Hearn before Rob had been murdered, or if they knew anything about a “swinger's lifestyle” that Sabrina would tell investigators and the court, much later that is, but they knew he was moving in quickly now. They also knew that Sabrina did not seem to be the grieving widow they would have expected her to be.

Investigators began looking into the relationship between Sabrina and Jonathan and on November 18, 2014 they were both arrested. Sabrina would not officially be charged and soon after her arrest she was released from custody. Over the next year investigators would talk to Jonathan as well as gather more information in their investigation. They would discover that the two had worked together to kill Rob Limon. Sabrina would be re-arrested on January 6, 2017 and charged in the death of her husband. She would be charged with first degree murder, conspiracy to commit first degree murder, soliciting murder, accessory after the fact, and attempted murder by poison.

Just after her arrest Jonathan would accept a plea deal that required he testify against Sabrina at trial. He would be sentenced to just over twenty-five years for shooting Rob Limon and conspiring with Sabrina in his death. Sabrina's arraignment just a few days later would be filled with drama when one of her friends would have a physical confrontation with a prosecution witness. The friend would be charged with misdemeanor battery and plead no contest. The interesting part in this is that the lawyer who represented Sabrina's friend, Sharon Beth Marshall, would later represent Sabrina herself.

Sabrina would go on trial in September of 2017. Investigators had learned through their investigation, as well as from information from Jonathan, that this murder had not only been planned for quite some time, but that Sabrina had given Jonathan all of the information he needed to carry out the plan. She had given Jonathan the address to Rob's workplace, where he would be and his work schedule. While she used what is better known as a “burner” phone for communications text messages were discovered between the two in which discussions of the crime were found. They had also been able to get wire taps that had the two not only professing their love for one another, but discussing details of the investigation. Of course the prosecution presented evidence that she had lied to them about her relationship with Hearn. For her part, Sabrina would testify on her own behalf and she alleged that she had lied to investigators in an attempt to preserve Rob's reputation because she did not want it known that the couple had decided to have an open marriage or what is better known as a “swinging” relationship. To be fair, it does appear that the couple had engaged in this type of lifestyle, but it seems doubtful that was her reasoning for being untruthful to investigators. The motive alleged by prosecutors was the age old motive... greed. According to records Sabrina was to receive over $300,000 in life insurance and other benefits.

Hearn would testify against Sabrina. According to his testimony in April, four months before the murder, he had ordered arsenic online and Sabrina had put it in some banana pudding that she had made. He claimed that that packed the pudding to Rob to take to lunch but that they both became scared that they would get caught so Sabrina called Rob and told him that the banana's were bad and to throw the pudding away.

After a three week trial the jury rendered a verdict on October 5, 2017. She was found guilty of first degree murder, conspiracy to commit first degree murder, soliciting first degree murder and accessory after the fact. When it came to the charges of attempted murder and poison the jury found her not guilty. I would gander to guess that they had nothing beyond Hearn's testimony when it came to the poisoning aspect of things.

The following month, before her sentencing, Sabrina fired her trial attorney's and hired Sharon Beth Marshall, the attorney who represented her friend in the battery case. Her sentencing was delayed until February of 2018 as her new lawyer first argued that she was not familiar enough with the case just yet, but they also argued for a new trial claiming that the former attorney's had not properly prepared Sabrina to testify in front of the jury. That motion was denied. When she returned to court in February she was given a sentence of twenty-five years to life. I suspect that this will be appealed in the coming months.

As of now according to the California Department of Corrections Jonathan Hearn will be eligible for parole in November of 2028 while Sabrina will first be eligible in April of 2037.