Wharton Professor Charged with Murder

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
#1

<p>NORRISTOWN, Pennsylvania (AP) – A University of Pennsylvania professor was charged Monday with beating his wife to death in their suburban kitchen after she told friends she planned to divorce him.</p>

<p>Rafael Robb, a 56-year-old economics professor, had told investigators he was in Philadelphia when his wife was killed December 22.</p>

<p>Prosecutors, however, said his alibi didn’t hold up. Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce Castor has said the scene was staged to look like a burglary.</p>

<p>“Dr. Robb lied to the police about an obvious motive for this murder, his knowledge of his wife’s recent plans to divorce him and obtain a significant portion of his wealth,” according to an affidavit by Upper Merion police Detective David Gershanick.</p>

<p>Robb was charged with first- and third-degree murder, possession of an instrument of crime, tampering with evidence and lying to authorities.</p>

<p>Robb had said he took the couple’s 12-year-old daughter to school that morning and last saw his wife alive before driving to work. He said he returned home later that day and found her body.</p>

<p>Authorities said Ellen Robb’s injuries were so extensive they initially thought she was killed with a shotgun blast to the face. The murder weapon has not been found.</p>

<p>Ellen Robb, 49, had told relatives and others that she had hired a divorce attorney and was expecting $4,000 a month in spousal support, prosecutors said in court papers. The couple have a 12-year-old daughter.</p>

<p>Robb has been at Penn for at least four years, according to a resume posted on his university Web site. Penn officials said earlier that they had arranged for someone else to teach Robb’s graduate seminar in game theory this semester.</p>

<p>His lawyer, Francis Genovese, did not immediately return a call seeking comment Monday.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.cnn.com/2007/LAW/01/08/prof.charged.ap/index.html[/url]”>http://www.cnn.com/2007/LAW/01/08/prof.charged.ap/index.html</a></p>

#2

<p>Lol, wow...imagine being a former student of his. Wow, "My Game Theory teacher was a murderer."</p>

#3

<p>moral of the story: kids, don't marry your professor...</p>

#4

<p>Did anyone happen to put him down as the professor they'd most like to meet?</p>

<p>Anyways, I hope he's innocent. Because if he's not, I'd be kind of scared.</p>

#5

<p>The econ department is actually in the College...</p>

#6

<p>Man..I can't believe this school. A professor whose an alleged murderer, another whose an alleged child molester (the Wharton Prof.); a student who got his ear chopped off by another student who threw a beer bottle at him. And the president (Guttman) who poses with someone dressed as a suicide bomber for Halloween! I think PEnn should do some serious damage control. They need to.</p>

#7

<p>craziness..</p>

#8

<p>lol that is definitely pretty weird...I wonder if he'll get convicted</p>

#9

<p>man this guy's def going to jail</p>

<p>all the circumstancial evidence just kind of clicks</p>

#10

<p>Not to sound mean, but being a game theory professor, shouldn't he have been able to come up with a way to deal with his wife and her proposed divorce without murdering her lol. And if he had no other choice, you'd expect an economics professor to be able to carry a murder out more efficiently.</p>

#11

<p>I'd be freaked out if I had that Prof. as my instructor. Anyone think this will affect Penn's yield this year?</p>

#12

<p>nah. (ten char)</p>

#13

<p>ha...
I wonder if people are withdrawing their apps</p>

#14

<p>I've seen the guy on TV. An older mousy looking guy with an Israeli accent. He was not some kind of crazed psycho-killer who would murder random people (such as his students). He (allegedly) carefully plotted this murder in order to avoid having to pay his wife a large divorce settlement. He tried to to stuff to throw the police off track the way you'd expect a game theory professor to d0 - broke a window in the kitchen to make it look like a burglary, intentionally not feed the meter to get a parking ticket downtown to create a timeline alibi, etc. At this point it doesn't look like the police have any real physical evidence so there's still a chance that he'll get off. Maybe the game theory guy will turn out to be right after all.</p>

#15

<p>wow, getting a ticket is a bad idea, unless he gets them regularly. Otherwise it would look like he was trying to make an alaby.</p>

#16

<p>Seriously, this is probably (most likely) an isolated incident...I doubt people will withdraw their applications thinking Penn hires deranged murderers to teach their students.</p>

#17

<p>This murder incident along with the Wharton professor pervert really gives me the creeps. I'm glad Penn deferred me! If I had gotten in ED I would be stuck at a school with a murderer, a pervert and a student who will be tried for the third time for murder. (Maliskaya..or whatever her name is).How scary is that?</p>

#18

<p>oh dear
dulce's back...</p>

#19

<p>lol</p>

<p>dulce</p>

#20

<p>Wait, these people are now going to jail, so all the bad people in Penn are not there anymore, making it a safe school. God knows what type of people are at Michigan. It has almost 40,000 people. Statistically speaking, you should see some serial killers, rapeists, despots, etc.</p>