A man who almost decapitated his girlfriend disclosed the chilling motive behind the brutal murder as he receives a life sentence.
In 2024, residents reported a foul odor emanating from a nearby apartment, leading police to investigate. Inside, they found the body of 52-year-old Genna Rae LaCombe wrapped in blankets and left to decompose on the porch. Shane Levi Cole Roberts, the culprit, was apprehended in the apartment hiding with a dog.
A coroner determined that LaCombe suffered multiple stab wounds, including one that nearly severed her head. Roberts, aged 46, confessed to the deliberate homicide and was sentenced to 85 years in prison.
During the sentencing hearing, prosecutors presented substantial evidence, revealing Roberts’ callous motive for the heinous crime. Investigations unveiled disturbing photos on Roberts’s phone depicting his girlfriend’s bloodied body in a bathtub days before her remains were found. Additionally, authorities recovered bloodied knives, a hatchet, and a hammer.
Roberts later confessed to his mother from jail, admitting to the murder, citing that LaCombe had provoked him. The couple had been in a relationship for about two years and shared a flat in Billings, Montana.
A forensic psychologist assessed Roberts and identified substance abuse and major depressive disorder. However, the evaluation concluded that Roberts was aware of his actions at the time of the offense.
Although prosecutors and Roberts’ defense attorney agreed on a 70-year prison term, Judge Colette Davies added 15 more years. Addressing Roberts, she emphasized that his actions were not motivated by love but were abominable.
Genna LaCombe, survived by two children, was described in her obituary as a devoted mother who enjoyed arts and crafts, cooking, and dancing to 80s music.
In a separate case, a mother fights to keep her son’s killer, Stuart Diamond, behind bars after he brutally dismembered her son and concealed his head. Despite being deemed too dangerous for release in 1999, a parole review is pending, and the victim’s determined mother vows to prevent Diamond’s release.
Jean Hartley, from Liverpool, mourns her son’s tragic death and vows to ensure Diamond remains incarcerated. She recounts the devastation the murder caused her family and expresses her ongoing fear of encountering Diamond.
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