Teacher Aide Pleads Not Guilty of Plot to Kill Estranged Mate

A high school teacher’s aide has pleaded not guilty to charges that she persuaded two teen-age students to kill her estranged husband, who was stabbed repeatedly outside his Cardiff apartment Jan. 31.

Pearce, 41, an aide at an Escondido high school, is suspected of scheming to kill her husband, Robert (Wayne) Pearce, out of worries that their impending divorce might involve selling the Valley Center house the couple occupied before their separation late last year, prosecutors said.

The two boys suspected of carrying out the grisly slaying of Wayne Pearce have not been seen at the high school since he was killed, and authorities are still searching for them.

Plan for Escape

“You wouldn’t think they could hide for very long,” said Tim Casserly, the deputy district attorney assigned to the case. “Apparently, there was some sort of plan for their escape after this crime.”

Casserly said investigators with the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department homicide team have found a student who claims she heard Roberta Pearce and the two boys, both about 15 or 16, repeatedly discuss plans to kill Pearce’s husband, who was able to describe his attackers before he died.

At least one man witnessed the attack in the parking lot of the apartment complex where Wayne Pearce was living, but he may not have gotten a good enough look at the assailants to aid the prosecution’s case, Casserly said.

Held Without Bail

Vista Municipal Judge Victor Ramirez, at an arraignment hearing Tuesday, ordered Pearce held without bail. A bail-review hearing is set for Tuesday and a preliminary hearing Feb. 21.

Pearce is being represented by attorney William Fletcher of Carlsbad, who could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Casserly said Pearce could be sentenced to death if the district attorney’s office decides to press charges that the killing was committed under special circumstances.

“Those could possibly involve laying in wait, or possibly murder for hire,” Casserly said. “We’ll evaluate it when all the reports are finally in.”