Cars as Payment for Slaying : Affidavit Outlines Murder-for-Hire Plot

A teacher’s aide at an Escondido high school promised her cars to a pair of teen-agers in exchange for carrying out the Jan. 31 slaying of her estranged husband, according to a court affidavit.

Roberta Pearce, an aide at Orange Glen High School, hired the 15-year-old boys to kill her husband, Robert (Wayne) Pearce, so she could reap life insurance money and would not lose her Valley Center home in a divorce, the document alleges.

Wayne Pearce, 40, was attacked by two men wielding a knife and hatchet in the parking lot of the Cardiff apartment complex where he had lived after separating from his wife over the Thanksgiving holiday. Prosecutors say the knife matches a set later found in the Valley Center home.

Roberta Pearce was arrested shortly after her house was searched, but police did not capture the two youths suspected of carrying out the killing until several days later.

The affidavit, filed by San Diego County Sheriff’s Department detectives in support of a search warrant issued Feb. 3 for the couple’s sprawling, tile-roofed house, provides the first detailed look at what is expected to be the prosecution’s case against Pearce, 41. The document also offers a dramatic description of the slaying.

It outlines statements made to investigators by several teen-agers who either visited or lived at Pearce’s house in the weeks before the killing.

Investigators served the warrant shortly after midnight and reported collecting 17 items, among them two cars, hairs, fibers, fingerprints and bloodstained materials.

Pearce’s attorney, William Fletcher of Carlsbad, said he received the court document Wednesday, had been unable to review it, and declined comment. But he said the allegations are “hard to believe,” given the reputation of Pearce among friends and faculty as a warm, caring person.

‘Out of Character’

“You’ve got some kids making some allegations that, if true, are serious,” Fletcher said. “But, on the other hand, by all appearances and by what her friends say, this would be something completely out of character for someone like this. Could someone change so dramatically in the matter of a few weeks?”

The affidavit, however, lays out in detail a scenario that investigators believe led to the death of Wayne Pearce. In particular, it highlights allegations made by a 16-year-old girl who had moved into the Valley Center house after Pearce and her husband separated.

Sheriff’s Detective Russ Oliver said in the affidavit that the girl, a former Orange Glen student who was befriended by Pearce, was willing to cooperate because she did not participate in “the actual crime” and wanted to “clear the incident and cooperate with authorities.”

The girl told detectives she heard Pearce and several youths, including the two 15-year-old suspects, plot the slaying on at least five occasions at the house.

According to the girl, Pearce wanted her husband dead so she could have money, keep the house and adopt the girl, the affidavit said.

Corvette as Payment

One of the boys told the girl that Pearce had promised to give him the couple’s orange Corvette as payment, and that the other youth would get another of the couple’s cars, the court document said.

Although the two boys discussed using a gun, Pearce suggested it could be traced to her, the court document said. Later, the girl saw the pair take a silver-colored knife and a silver-colored hatchet from the kitchen drawer of the house, according to the affidavit.

The girl also said Pearce gave one of the boys her husband’s address and showed them photographs of him, the affidavit said.

She said the boys planned to steal a car to drive to the Cardiff apartment complex, the affidavit said. A truck seen by a witness at the complex matched the description of a vehicle later identified as stolen.

The girl awakened on the morning of the slaying at 7 a.m. and was told by Pearce that her husband was in the hospital, the court document said. In addition, she discovered the two 15-year-old suspects wearing only towels while their clothing was in the washing machine, the document said.

As the wash cycle completed, the girl removed the clothing and found that it contained what appeared to be blood, the court document said. She put the clothing back in the machine, and it went through another wash cycle. She also helped Pearce scrub up blood that remained in the showers and bathroom, the affidavit said.

One of the boys described the slaying to the girl, saying that they had waited outside the Cardiff apartment complex for Wayne Pearce, the affidavit said. When he appeared, the girl said, one of the youths engaged Pearce in a conversation and the other crept up from behind and stabbed him, according to the affidavit. He told the girl Pearce was stabbed about 25 times, it said.

Both boys remained at the Valley Center home until about 5 p.m. on the day of the killing, she said, then were picked up by another youth, the court paper alleges.

Conversations Overheard

The girl’s boyfriend, an Orange Glen student, also told investigators that he overheard conversations between Pearce and the youths leading him to believe the woman wanted her husband killed.

After investigators contacted him on the day of the slaying, the boyfriend called Pearce, who said she would have “a hard time sleeping that night knowing she was going to jail,” the affidavit said.

The court document also said investigators contacted Wayne Pearce’s divorce attorney, who indicated that “a substantial amount” of life insurance was in effect on her client, with Roberta Pearce as the beneficiary. During the woman’s arraignment, however, her attorney said the insurance policies had lapsed.