The Murder of Janet Abaroa #1

[PrayersForMaura]

I took the photo over to photoshop and corrected the tint and lighting and I gotta say I think you're right. edited to add: check the ears and teeth too.

With all of Raven's *impressive* photoshop skills (LOL) you would think he'd know how to clean up a photo (without removing a nose).

Why would anyone radically make themselves over twice in such a short period of time?

kind of reminds me of scott peterson and his orange hair and goatee...
i guess with all the places Raven lived, too, he's clearly avoiding something or someone... people or bill collectors?? He never writes much about his family on his website except his mom and I didn't see him list her by name.

 

[PrayersForMaura]

Middle initials of P and S are common to your list, Golfmom.
P may well be for Peters.
S may mean there are half- siblings with another father after her divorce from Raven's father.

I tend to think that Raven has a light skinned father and the brother he is shown with in the Christmas professional photo is his half brother.
I have NO doubt but what he was visiting HIS biological family last Christmas. It all reads as such. Also, there is a resemblance in the profiles of the two men when they are posed with their babies in the link I gave. Same nose.

I believe he wrote that his father was Indian and mother part hispanic.
Also, my sister's ex husband is cherokee and she is european, and both had dark hair although my neice is blonde and blue eyed. odd.

 

[NCBanker]

Raven was on the soccer team. I think that somewhere I read that he was a goalie, although I don't know if he actually was the team's goalie. I think it's intereting that he didn't graduate, considering that if you were a decent athlete they wanted you to stay and finish (like they offered scholarships and the like to ease the financial troubles of the tuition--especially for athletes). I wonder if there might have been a problem--him thinking that he should be playing and wasn't, so he decided to leave the school. But that's just me thinking.

I don't know why Janet took a year off either. I was finished there in '99, so I didn't hear much of them after that.

This is just a hunch, but maybe Raven talked Janet into leaving so the school would do something more to entice them to stay, i.e. putting him in more of a star role, or providing more tuition/living assistance. If that's the case, it obviously backfired. Janet returned a year later, if I'm not mistaken. I still can't figure out what brought them to NC. They had no ties here.

 

[golfmom]

I believe he wrote that his fahter was Indian and mother part hispanic.
Also, my sister's ex husband is cherokee and she is european, and both had dark hair although my neice is blonde and blue eyed. odd.

I think when he was referring to his Indian heritage that he referred to his grandfather not his father which leads me to believe that his dad was mixed as well.

 

[Jenifred]

Does anyone else remember reading that there was a creek running through the front of their yard? Do you think that this could have been the place that the murder weapon was cleaned, since they found money there? Just think, could there have been any evidence left if it was a running creek? Wash the weapon off, then let it settle down for a few hours then call the police?

 

[golfmom]

This is just a hunch, but maybe Raven talked Janet into leaving so the school would do something more to entice them to stay, i.e. putting him in more of a star role, or providing more tuition/living assistance. If that's the case, it obviously backfired. Janet returned a year later, if I'm not mistaken. I still can't figure out what brought them to NC. They had no ties here.

I think Eurosport was what drew them to NC ... it's a soccer gear company and would be a perfect fit for the young couple.

 

[golfmom]

Does anyone else remember reading that there was a creek running through the front of their yard? Do you think that this could have been the place that the murder weapon was cleaned, since they found money there? Just think, could there have been any evidence left if it was a running creek? Wash the weapon off, then let it settle down for a few hours then call the police?

What makes that a very interesting idea is that the police removed a number of coins from the creek in front of their house.

 

[Thinkoflaura]

Does anyone else remember reading that there was a creek running through the front of their yard? Do you think that this could have been the place that the murder weapon was cleaned, since they found money there? Just think, could there have been any evidence left if it was a running creek? Wash the weapon off, then let it settle down for a few hours then call the police?

GREAT sleuthing, Jenn. Yes, and the quarters were probably for PAY PHONE calls... think about it.
All the change was in quarters... and found on the ground near the creek or stream of water. I'd say someone had drooping pockets and a few fell out. Also, clothing change could have been done in darkness in the creek where overt blood would have been washed away.

I remember a hymn about washing blood and sins away...

 

[golfmom]

GREAT sleuthing, Jenn. Yes, and the quarters were probably for PAY PHONE calls... think about it.
All the change was in quarters... and found on the ground near the creek or stream of water. I'd say someone had drooping pockets and a few fell out. Also, clothing change could have been done in darkness in the creek where overt blood would have been washed away.

I remember a hymn about washing blood and sins away...

I get a vision of someone shaking, bent over desperately trying to quickly clean blood off the knife and hands. Fumbling through their pockets ... looking for something ... maybe a wedding ring? Change spilling out, no time, no time, gotta get out of here ... gotta get rid of ....

 

[Thinkoflaura]

I get a vision of someone shaking, bent over desperately trying to quickly clean blood of the knife and hands. Fumbling through their pockets ... looking for something ... maybe a wedding ring? Change spilling out, no time, no time, gotta get out of here ... gotta get rid of ....

Funny how I've read about those danged quarters many times and wondered " SO??"
Now it all makes sense.

Bent over, cleaning a knife or knives. Washing hands, face,feet, standing in water, changing clothes. Have to have a good supply of quarters for pay phone calls because cell phone calls would be traced, and the perp didn't know how this was going to play out.. Might have had to run.. may have run, we don't know for sure.

A person who knows the couple has indicated privately that they don't think Raven could have done this but that maybe someone he owed money to would.
I guess I don't understand why the person who was owed money would think they would find something of great resale value at the house. Maybe Raven had bragged about material things, again...
I would think that a burglar who was taking repayment for a debt by force would wait for Raven to come home, and kill him if anyone was killed.. Why a mother with her baby in the house?

 

[NCBanker]

What I keep going back to is why? The only thing I can come up with, if Raven did it, was a heat of the moment lapse of control. Perhaps they were arguing about money and she said something that completely set him off. Perhaps they were discussing separating and who would take the baby. Financial trouble does major damage to a marital relationship and brings out the absolute worst in everyone. I just can't envision him planning to do this. There's no credible reason.

 

[golfmom]

A person who knows the couple has indicated privately that they don't think Raven could have done this but that maybe someone he owed money to would.
I guess I don't understand why the person who was owed money would think they would find something of great resale value at the house. Maybe Raven had bragged about material things, again...
I would think that a burglar who was taking repayment for a debt by force would wait for Raven to come home, and kill him if anyone was killed.. Why a mother with her baby in the house?

I think one of my first posts speculated if this was a revenge type thing, See, but what makes me suspicious is that there does not appear to be any evidence of a burglary. I would think if there was any it would have been clearly stated in the affidavit.

And although I hold much greater weight to those that actually knew the couple (versus us just yackin' here) I don't think it would be easy to find someone to actually kill Janet. Raven would have needed a whole lot of cash for someone to risk taking out a new mother. Finally, it just doesn't seem professional ... blood all over the place, I think this case will be solved through the forensics, I just wish they'd hurry up for Kaiden's sake.

 

[golfmom]

What I keep going back to is why? The only thing I can come up with, if Raven did it, was a heat of the moment lapse of control. Perhaps they were arguing about money and she said something that completely set him off. Perhaps they were discussing separating and who would take the baby. Financial trouble does major damage to a marital relationship and brings out the absolute worst in everyone. I just can't envision him planning to do this. There's no credible reason.

I don't think that there is ever any credible reason for murder.
Just look at poor Krystal & Laura . . .
I think sometimes people have minimal impulse control and just snap and like a lightswitch being turned they react without thinking of the consequences.

 

[Thinkoflaura]

What I keep going back to is why? The only thing I can come up with, if Raven did it, was a heat of the moment lapse of control. Perhaps they were arguing about money and she said something that completely set him off. Perhaps they were discussing separating and who would take the baby. Financial trouble does major damage to a marital relationship and brings out the absolute worst in everyone. I just can't envision him planning to do this. There's no credible reason.

I was thinking about the date.. 4/26. Income tax deadline was 4/15. A high-pressure time for people having a hard time making ends meet.. with a husband who bought very expensive boy toys such as trucks and motorcycles and a quiet wife who apparently worked hard and tried to do the right thing. He had a history of theft, was already in legal trouble, what if he was compounding the irresponsible or criminal acts in secret and Janet confronted him about it? I've heard abusers say " I snapped. I don't remember what I did", and I think they are mostly right.. rage causes tunnel vision and Janet was in the line of sight.

I agree that multiple stab wounds indicate to me that it was a very personalized crime, full of frenzied loss of control and hatred in the passion of the moment.
I can't help but wonder IF Janet found something really really awful on his computer that day...
After all, the computer is gone too, just like Janet.

To me, there is NO justification possible. There is no sane answer to " Why" no matter how hard we seek that answer. It's unjustifiable to kill a young mother in her own home with her baby.

 

[Jenifred]

What I keep going back to is why? The only thing I can come up with, if Raven did it, was a heat of the moment lapse of control. Perhaps they were arguing about money and she said something that completely set him off. Perhaps they were discussing separating and who would take the baby. Financial trouble does major damage to a marital relationship and brings out the absolute worst in everyone. I just can't envision him planning to do this. There's no credible reason.

I think that this scenario makes a good deal of sense. If there were a struggle between Janet and a stranger, don't you think that Janet might be screaming? Couldn't that screaming wake a baby? And usually a baby would scream and scream until comforted (or that's what my kids would do). But if it were Raven who entered the house then went upstairs with his wife, there probably wouldn't have been screaming at all. Now, I guess a baby could have just cried itself back to sleep too. And since there isn't a timeline and we don't know how long Janet had been dead before the police came--anything is possible.

 

[OriginalJerseyGirl]

After all, the computer is gone too, just like Janet.

If that computer is gone, and LE didn't take it, I think that that GREATLY reduces the pool of suspects. Perhaps even reduces it to just one.

 

[misterallgood]

"JustMad1" has asked that I post the following:

If any one is interested in making a donation to this fund for Kaiden it will be handled by Janet’s mother(...)

Those wishing to send condolences and remembrances of
Janet may send them to:

Mr. & Mrs. Val Christiansen
4304 Roberts Avenue
Annandale, Virginia 22003
​

Mr. A

 

[misterallgood]

Where'd you all go?

Man, this thread is getting long.

 

[misterallgood]

Received this in my yahoo e-mail. The person has requested anonymity but gave permission to post the text of their e-mail:

We are so glad that someone hasn't forgotten about Janet Abaroa. We went to college with Janet and Raven. Raven was very arrogant and came off very cocky. I remember a soccer game I was at and he kept on coaching her from the sidelines and screaming at her if she didn't make a goal. He WAS very controlling from what I saw. Janet was always very sweet but was a bit shy and more reserved then her husband. We hope that this crime will be solved soon, we are sickened by it.

​

If I get more with permission to post, I will.

 

[Thinkoflaura]

Where'd you all go?

Man, this thread is getting long.

Just thinkin' over some things I have been told ( and believe to be true) today. Sure do wish an " Amber Frye" would come forward in this case to tell her story of nightlife with Raven. Although, from what I hear, there were many women last year, and he does have a habit of changing his appearance..

Oh, I think before long this thread will be part of a TRIAL thread, what do you think?