Kriti Mehrotra
Featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, influential documentaries, and in-depth explorations of some of the most bewildering cases to have ever transpired, NBC’s ‘Dateline’ has been a staple of the newsmagazine genre since its premier in 1992. Its extensive archive, usual update episodes, and new chapters also keep the viewers hooked to the content. So, of course, its season 26 episode 21, entitled ‘The Pink Gun Mystery,’ chronicling the murder of Robin Spielbauer, is no different. Involving a love triangle, false arrest, convictions, and overturns, this matter has it all. And now, if you’re curious to know the details of the same, we’ve got you covered.
How Did Robin Spielbauer Die?
Born on October 23, 1981, at the Air Force Base in Altus, Oklahoma, Robin Bledsoe Spielbauer spent some of her early years in North Dakota before relocating and settling down in Amarillo, Texas. At the age of 32, she was not only a loving daughter and friend, but she was also a caring mother of two daughters and a hardworking woman. Due to her strained relationship with her ex-husband, financial constraints, and workload, Robin was often aggravated and depressed. Yet, no one could have ever imagined that she would somehow lose her life amongst it all.
On April 8, 2014, at around 12:45 p.m., women driving by noticed Robin’s cold and bloodied body on Helium Road, near County Road 34, beside her parked Chevy Tahoe SUV. The dirt road was otherwise clear, so they immediately dialed 911. Within hours, the authorities positively identified Robin and ruled her death to be a homicide. After all, preliminary autopsy results revealed that she passed away from a gunshot wound to the back of her head and severe blunt-force trauma. She had been attacked on the isolated road on purpose, as per police records.
Who Killed Robin Spielbauer?
Within days of the discovery of Robin Spielbauer’s body, the police issued an arrest warrant for her former husband’s (Jeremy Spielbauer) new wife, 28-year-old Katie Yvonne Spielbauer. She was charged with one count of felony murder and taken to the Randall County jail. This arrest came after several of Robin’s friends and family members detailed the hostile relation between them. Jeremy and Katie had begun having an affair while he was married to Robin, and then, after he tied the knot with Katie, she started suspecting that he was involved in an illicit liaison with his ex-wife.
Robin and Katie’s interpersonal link was brutal, to say the least, especially as it had even resulted in a few physical cat-fights. Therefore, after crime scene investigations revealed pink plastic pieces found near Robin’s body, with similar color smears transferred onto her car’s window, forensic tests affirmed that Katie’s pink gun was the murder weapon. Consequently, she spent a total of 466 days in county jail before cellphone tracking evidence cleared her name for good. Throughout this time, it appeared as if Jeremy was cooperating with the police and prosecutors.
However, once Katie was released, and the probes began anew, it came to light that Jeremy was the one whose cellphone was near the scene at the time of Robin’s death and that bank surveillance cameras captured his car in the area within that duration. All this evidence contradicted Jeremy’s previous statements, leading to him becoming the prime suspect. Officers theorized that he used his wife’s gun to frame her on purpose, particularly as texts between Jeremy and Robin suggested that he’d devised a plan to meet on that road on the night of April 7, 2014.
Based on this information, a Randall County grand jury indicted Jeremy on the count of capital murder, alleging that he’d killed his ex-wife during the course of a robbery. He was arrested for the same roughly two years after the fact, on April 16, 2016, and stood trial in early 2018. Several witnesses, including Katie Yvonne Phipps (now divorced from Jeremy), testified against him during the court proceedings. Subsequently, the twelve-member jury unanimously convicted and sentenced him on the lesser-included charge of felony murder.
With that said, following an appeal raising doubts related to the objectivity of two jurors and the counsel from his attorney, Jeremy Spielbauer’s conviction was overturned in January 2020. The District Attorney’s Office issued a statement on the same, clearing that “this decision is not about whether there was sufficient evidence to convict Mr. Spielbauer or whether the court concluded that [he] was innocent.” Instead, it means that he may receive a retrial. The prosecutors, though, appealed in response and won.
Read More: Where is Katie Phipps Now?
