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Man Accused Of Killing Wife In 1999 Changes Story
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Published: September 19, 2008
Robert Temple has a different story to tell from a day in 1999 when he proclaimed innocence in the death of his wife, Rosemary Christensen.
From his California jail cell Friday, Temple said he was involved in his wife's disappearance but that he wasn't the killer. He said he returned to the Belleair condominium he shared with his wife in 1999 to find his girlfriend, Leslie Stewart, frantic after she accidentally stabbed Christensen during an argument.
Both stories are in sharp contrast to the story detectives now provide. On Sept. 10, Temple was charged with first-degree murder. He is accused of slaying Christensen and burying her body in North Florida.
"I have never been an angel," Temple said. "I'm not trying to say I'm a good person or saint or anything I'm not. I deserve probably to go to prison. In fact, I'm sure I do for trying to cover up what happened."
Authorities say Christensen's disappearance unraveled when Stewart divulged a secret she held for nine years. She blew the whistle on Temple this month, leading Pinellas County investigators to a place near the Suwannee River, where she and Temple had buried Christensen's body, investigators say.
Christensen, 43, had been stuffed in a green plastic storage bin from Wal-Mart and buried in a patch of woods in Gilchrist County, sheriff's investigators say. Her body was clothed in a nightgown and she was doubled over in a fetal position, they said.
Stewart told investigators what happened with Christensen nine years ago, a police report says. Stewart, then 22, and Temple, then 49, worked for the same telemarketing firm and had been dating.
On Aug. 26, 1999, when she arrived to her home, Stewart found messages Temple had left on her answering machine, asking her to come over to the Belleair condominium where he had been living with his wife, the report says.
She complied, the report says. Drink in hand, Temple began talking strangely, she said. First, he told Stewart he had been convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the death of a child, the report says. Then he told her there was no such thing as witness protection and, even if there were, the witness in question could still be found.
As she began to wonder where Christensen was, Temple led her into the couple's bedroom, the report says. Christensen, wearing a silk robe with a pool of blood near her abdomen, was at the foot of the bed, the report says. Christensen had been stabbed to death.
Temple claimed he was sitting in front of a computer when Christensen, who was supposed to be asleep, sneaked up behind him and hit him on the head with the butt end of a knife, the report says. They struggled and Christensen was stabbed.
Later, when Temple emerged as a suspect after his wife vanished, he told authorities and the news media that his wife was a swinger and that she had ran off with a man she had met online.
Stewart has also told authorities she helped clean up after the murder, the Redding Police Department report states. They tried cleaning the bedroom carpet with a carpet cleaner but that didn't work. Eventually, they just took the carpet up.
After the body was stuffed in what Stewart described as a Tupperware container, they brought it to the area near the river, the report says. Temple did the digging. The two also put some of her belongings in several different garbage bins at different apartment complexes and truck stops around Florida, the report says.
Temple says Stewart is setting him up.
He says Stewart and Christensen knew each other and the trio had a sexual relationship. He says he wasn't home when the stabbing occurred and that Stewart and Christensen were arguing when Christensen was "accidentally" stabbed.
He says Stewart convinced him police wouldn't believe the story, and that they spent days cleaning up the crime scene.
Temple said he has health problems and believes he will die in custody. He said he isn't scared of the death penalty, but he has a 3-year-old autistic daughter with Stewart and wants to make sure the girl is safe.
In the aftermath of the slaying, Stewart had contacted lawyer Jay Hebert and confided in him what had happened. The lawyer said he tried then to persuade her to cooperate with investigators, but she didn't want to. Hebert said he couldn't relate to authorities what she had said because he was bound by an attorney-client privilege.
She resumed contact the afternoon of Sept. 3. She had changed her mind, he said.
Hebert has worked out a conditional arrangement with the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney's Office. If Stewart testifies - and if it is concluded that she had nothing to do with the slaying itself - she won't be charged criminally, he said.
Chief Assistant State Attorney Bruce Bartlett confirmed a deal had been made. He noted Stewart led authorities to the body, was under much stress nine years ago, and has agreed to testify against Temple.
Back in 1999, Temple agreed to talk to investigators and provided them with his swinger theory. He also pleaded with reporters to encourage anyone who knew her whereabouts to call him.
When investigators tried to interview him after his arrest last week, he didn't say a word.
Information from Tribune archives was used in this report.
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