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Suspect In '99 Slaying Denies Charge From Pinellas Jail

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By MARK DOUGLAS

mdouglas@wfla.com

Published: November 14, 2008

In a jailhouse interview with a News Channel 8 reporter, Robert Glenn Temple said he's being framed for the death of his wife nine years ago, but concedes he helped clean up the crime scene and hide his wife's body.

Hours after his extradition to Pinellas County from California on Wednesday to face a first-degree murder charge, Temple said he participated in a cover-up of Rosemary Christensen's stabbing death, but not her slaying.

"No I did not. I did not murder Rose, I didn't," Temple said.

Temple said he helped Leslie Stewart, his 22-year-old girlfriend at the time, transport his wife's body to a burial spot in a wooded area of Gilchrist County next to the Suwannee River.

He said Stewart told him Christensen died accidentally after falling on a knife when the two women fought in the bedroom of the Belleair condo that Temple shared with his wife before her death in 1999.

Temple said he was out buying beer and flowers at the time.

Stewart led authorities to the burial site in September after blaming Temple for Christensen's slaying and saying she was his accomplice after the fact.

Veteran criminal defense lawyer Deborah Moss says Temple has a credibility problem because he told a different story to that same TV reporter nine years ago in a recorded interview.

Days after Christensen's disappearance in 1999, Temple said he had no idea what happened to his wife and wanted her to call home to let him know she was safe.

"I think it's always a problem when someone gives two versions of the event and then tries to say either one of them is true," Moss said.

Moss said the fact that Stewart confessed to her role in Christensen's death first and helped investigators crack the case means trouble for Temple when he goes to trial.

Stewart's lawyer, Jay Hebert, says she first told him about the burial nine years ago — something he couldn't reveal because of attorney-client privilege — and that she has lived under Temple's constant domination until she came forward in September and agreed to tell prosecutors what happened to Christensen in exchange for immunity.

"She probably has a lot of credibility. At this point it would be a tough case to defend," Moss said.

Moss also said Temple's attempt to defend himself by telling a reporter his side of the story before his trial is not in his best interest.

That's the same advice Temple said his public defender gave him before the jailhouse interview this week.

"He should probably be waiting to see what the evidence is in this case and speak to the lawyer he's been given," Moss said.

Temple is in the Pinellas jail without bail pending his prosecution for first-degree murder.

Reporter Mark Douglas can be reached at (727) 536-9603.

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