On Christmas Eve, 1977, Malibu’s sunny beaches set the stage for what appeared to be a fairy tale wedding. Fred Roehler and Verna Johnson, both widowed and seeking solace, united their families in a ceremony that seemed to promise a happy ending to their past tragedies.
Ivor Davis, a London-born former foreign correspondent, recalls the era vividly: “Malibu in the 70s was a hotspot. There was Larry Hagman, Steve McQueen, Ali McGraw, and all the famous stars like Jane Fonda.”
A Tale of Two Tragedies
Fred, a marine engineer and deep-sea diver, had lost his first wife, Jeanne, just over a year before. Jeanne, a flight attendant, drowned in their backyard pool in October 1976. The incident left Fred raising their two young daughters alone: Heidi, seven, and Kirsten, three.
The widowed, handsome Fred Roehler seemed refreshingly down-to-earth. Davis described Roehler as a catch for the women of Malibu. “He was husky, barrel-chested, six feet two inches tall, with 190 pounds of muscle, curly black hair, a burly black beard, and piercing pale blue eyes.”
Davis and his wife Sally had known Verna Johnson, a teacher’s aide at their children’s school, for ten years. After her husband’s suicide, she alone cared for her two children, Kimberly, eight, and Douglas, five. Davis described Verna as “a sunny, all-American woman in her early 30s. She was tanned, athletic, cute, and sexy. She reminded me of a cross between Natalie Wood and Farrah Fawcett.”
Their union brought together a blended family of six, which the Malibu community affectionately nicknamed “The Brady Bunch.”
Davis and Roehler grew close when Roehler volunteered to assist Davis in coaching his son’s youth soccer team. Roehler wanted to get closer to his new stepson, Doug. “He was terrific. He was wonderful as an assistant coach,” Davis remembers. “He came to every game even though he knew nothing about soccer.”
A Shocking Turn Of Events
After New Year’s Day, 1981, Davis’ world was shaken when he learned of a tragic boating accident involving the Roehler family.
Fred Roehler purchased a 150,000 dollar, 50-foot yacht named the Perseverance with plans to take his children out of school for a six-month sailing trip around the world.
Fred set sail on a day trip with his wife, their four children, his parents, his youngest brother and wife, and a new Beagle puppy named Lady. The kids had just received the pup for Christmas. They embarked on a three-hour sailing excursion to Santa Cruz Island.
The seas around the Channel Islands were cold, deep, and unpredictable at this time of year. However, Fred Roehler was well-acquainted with these waters. He had dived for lobster here and extensively trained with the U.S. Navy around the chain of islands.
Once anchored, Roehler, his wife Verna, his eight-year-old stepson Douglas, and the Beagle pup climbed into an inflatable rubber dinghy and headed to photograph Bird Rock.
What happened next remains unclear. The crew of a passing yacht, the Sound of Music, heard cries for help and spotted Fred Roehler in the water, clutching his wife and stepson.
They pulled the trio aboard and administered CPR. Although the eight-year-old boy was wearing a life preserver, he was ghostly pale with a bluish hue, like the appearance of his mother, Verna. CPR failed to revive them. The Coast Guard responded to a Mayday distress call and airlifted them to shore, but both were declared dead on arrival.
A Tragic Incident
Roehler emerged from the ordeal physically unscathed but appeared emotionally shattered and silent. The following day, Roehler, now twice widowed in five years, broke the news to his three daughters, assuring them that no one was at fault, saying, “God must have been ready for Mother and Doug.”
“The whole of Malibu was in tears,” Davis says, recounting the community’s initial reaction.
Suspicion and Arrest
Four days later, a friend of both of Roehler’s deceased wives emphatically asked Santa Barbara County homicide detectives if they were going to let him get away with murder again.
Three months later, police arrested Roehler for the murders of Verna and eight-year-old Doug and murder for profit. He had collected $800,000 in life insurance on a policy paid off a few days before the fatal drowings.
A Friend’s Unwavering Support
Despite the charges, Davis and his wife, a former BBC news anchor, remained steadfast in their belief of Roehler’s innocence. They attended his trial, testified on his behalf, and even advised his lawyers on defense strategies.
Roehler faced the possibility of execution in the gas chamber.
“I believed he was innocent. I believed he was a man whose tragedy struck twice,” Davis admits, reflecting on his mindset then.
The Trial That Gripped Santa Barbara
A one-hundred-day trial pitted forensics experts against each other as they debated the circumstantial evidence. The prosecution argued that bruises on the victims’ heads were caused by Roehler striking them with a wooden oar, while the defense claimed they resulted from contact with the rescue boat.
Roehler claimed the dinghy capsized when he tried to stop the Beagle puppy from jumping after a seagull. During tests, detectives could not get a similar dinghy to flip upside down.
Despite the advice of his lawyers, Roehler took the stand to defend himself. Davis recalled that it turned into a damaging spectacle, “Fred said, I am testifying. And he went up against Stanley Roden, the brilliantly dogged Santa Barbara district attorney who was prosecuting.”
A Verdict and a Sentence
The jury heard from seventy witnesses and saw 392 exhibits. After seven days of deliberation, the seven-woman, five-man jury found Roehler guilty of multiple murders and murder for profit of his wife, Vera.
“And when he was found guilty, I was in shock. And my wife, Sally was in shock. And we said, we are going to find out the truth. And when we do we will discover that I’m sure that Fred is an innocent man, recalled Davis.
Spare Our Daddy From The Gas Chamber
During the punishment phase, 64 character witnesses, including Davis, told the jury that Fred Roehler was the perfect husband, a great father, and an upstanding member of the community.
Roehler insisted on showing the 18-minute film of his beach wedding to Verna in Malibu.
The minister who performed the ceremony narrated the film.
But it was not a fairy tale marriage. Roehler had persuaded his wife not to officially register their marriage so she could continue to receive her late husband’s pension.
His three young daughters, with pink bows in their hair, sobbed as they begged the jury to spare their father’s life.
The jury sentenced Roehler to life without the possibility of parole. Davis next saw Roehler at Folsom Prison, which was made famous by Johnny Cash’s iconic song, “Folsom Prison Blues.”
The Journey to Truth
Still believing in Roehler’s innocence, Davis and his wife set out to write a book about what they perceived as a miscarriage of justice. Their investigation would lead them to Roehler’s hometown of Centerville, Indiana, where they uncovered a disturbing pattern.
“When I got back there, I went to see his parents. And then I went to his friends from school and former girlfriends. And they all said the same thing. They said, if there was a dollar in it, Fred Roehler did it,” Davis revealed.
A history of suspicious insurance claims involving burned boats, houses, and cars emerged. The pattern extended from Indiana to Malibu, with Roehler collecting money at every turn.
The Painful Realization
Davis and his wife confronted an uncomfortable truth as the evidence mounted. ” You go, oh, my God, and the hairs on the back of my neck go crazy. I think with Sally, Fred did it. He did it.” Davis went back to the site of the drownings, “Fred Roehler knew the waters out there like the back of his hand. He was an incredible deep sea diver. I think he just, and it sounds awful, grabbed them both and took them underwater.”
The Legacy of Betrayal
Fred Roehler angrily demanded transcripts of the interviews. Davis refused, and Roehler cut off future contact. That was nearly four decades ago. Davis’s book, The Devil In My Friend, has been in the works ever since.
Now 81, Fred Roehler remains incarcerated at the California State Prison in Los Angeles County, not eligible for parole. His daughters continue to advocate for his release, but Davis believes most people now accept Roehler’s guilt.
What started as a fairytale wedding on a Malibu beach ended in a Hollywood-style tragedy, unraveling a web of deception, greed, and murder.
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