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Vol.
42
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No.
10
In the Dead of Night
By Marjorie Rosen
Police Say a Reporter's Story Led to Love and a Murder Attempt
INSURANCE SALESMAN Rob
Whedbee was sleeping peacefully in the bedroom of his two-story brick house
last June 8 when he suddenly awoke to a nightmare. Looming over him stood an
intruder wearing rubber gloves and holding a large butcher knife. A weight
lifter and onetime amateur boxer, Whedbee, 33, fought back furiously as the
figure lashed out with the knife. As he and his assailant tumbled to the floor,
Whedbee yelled to his wife, Lisa, 31, for help. But, he later told the Knox
County, Tenn., sheriffs department, Lisa was not in her usual place beside him
in bed.
Instead she appeared frozen in the bedroom doorway holding an aluminum baseball bat. Whedbee shouted for her to turn on the lights and call the police, but she didn't respond. All he heard, he says, was his attacker shouting, "You've got to do it! Do it now!" Breaking free, Whedbee fled the room and ran down a hall and into the garage, with the assailant in close pursuit. There in his garage, Whedbee finally got a clear look at the knife-wielder before he ran off. Whedbee was stunned. Treated and released for minor wounds on his ear and hands, he later told police that the man who had tried to kill him was Michael Frazier, 32, the features editor for the Oak Ridger, a nearby weekday newspaper with a circulation of 10,000. Whedbee knew him as a fellow member of the Trinity United Methodist Church in Knoxville. And more to the point, Frazier had written a prize-winning article last year about the Whedbee family's struggle to care for their daughter Brittany, now 4, who had had a series of strokes as a toddler and also suffers from Down syndrome. Within hours police arrested Frazier and Lisa, and on Aug. 10 a Knoxville grand jury indicted them on charges including attempted first-degree murder. In the year that Frazier's article appeared, investigators believe, the pair became lovers and later decided to kill Rob Whedbee—perhaps to collect on his reported $1.5 million insurance policy.
Reaction to the attack among friends and acquaintances was one of disbelief. Frazier, an opera buff who was married to his second wife, Tracy, 31, was a popular figure at the church. He worked there as a part-time organist to supplement his income from the Oak Ridger, where he had worked since 1988. Lisa sang in the volunteer church choir. The other connection between the two was Frazier's article, "A Mother's Nightmare, A Mother's Dream," which had portrayed Lisa in highly sympathetic—even heroic—terms. Paul Jones, the music director at the church, says it never occurred to him that the two might be having an affair. "Everyone loved Michael," he adds. "He's a real tight part of this church family." But no one was more aghast at the accusations than Lisa and Rob's neighbors. "I know a lot of people who don't appear happy," says Suzanne Shinn, who lives next door in the suburban neighborhood. "They always did."
Yet appearances, in this case, were misleading. Last April, Lisa Whedbee consulted attorney Sarah Sheppeard about a divorce. Then, on May 17, she filed a petition for an order of protection. In it, she alleged that when she returned home after the appointment with Sheppeard, her husband was angrily waiting for her. "He told me that my attorney would not ever make it to court for me because he would kill her first, then he would kill my best friend for helping me," Lisa claimed in the court document. The following week, when Whedbee noticed that she had removed her wedding rings, she declared, he "placed his hands around my neck, choking me (in front of Brittany), and told me how he would snap my neck." Then he allegedly raped her.
Whedbee, Lisa's husband of 12 years, adamantly denies her accusations. "I have never been physically or mentally abusive to [my] wife," Whedbee stated in a divorce action he began hours after the June 8 assault. In fact, in his testimony at a preliminary hearing, he contended that Lisa threatened him with domestic violence. Last May 15, according to Whedbee, after one particularly heated argument over whether their children, Justin, 8, and Brittany, should be allowed to swim at his parents' house, he encountered his wife in the basement carrying a loaded shotgun, which she pointed in his direction. Whedbee ran from the house.
Since the attempted knifing, Lisa has fired off a divorce counterclaim of her own, citing "irreconcilable differences" and asking for sole custody of Justin and Brittany. But because Rob obtained a temporary injunction forbidding any contact with the children, who remain with their father, she has seen neither one since her arrest. Released that night on $50,000 bail, Lisa spent nearly two weeks under psychiatric treatment in an undisclosed hospital. As for her possible defense, lawyers intend to argue that a statement she made to police on the day of the attack, in which she apparently admitted having an affair with Frazier and letting him into the house, should be thrown out because she did not have an attorney present. Like Lisa, Frazier, who is also free on bail, is expected to plead not guilty at their arraignment on Sept. 9. Whatever the outcome of the trial, which may not begin until next year, the June 8 attack has left local residents wondering if anything these days can be taken for granted. Says the Whedbees' neighbor Bill Shinn: "The Whedbees were the perfect family. They were the perfect neighbors. And Lisa was the perfect wife."
MARJORIE ROSEN
AMY ESKIND and MARTHA HUME in knoxville
Instead she appeared frozen in the bedroom doorway holding an aluminum baseball bat. Whedbee shouted for her to turn on the lights and call the police, but she didn't respond. All he heard, he says, was his attacker shouting, "You've got to do it! Do it now!" Breaking free, Whedbee fled the room and ran down a hall and into the garage, with the assailant in close pursuit. There in his garage, Whedbee finally got a clear look at the knife-wielder before he ran off. Whedbee was stunned. Treated and released for minor wounds on his ear and hands, he later told police that the man who had tried to kill him was Michael Frazier, 32, the features editor for the Oak Ridger, a nearby weekday newspaper with a circulation of 10,000. Whedbee knew him as a fellow member of the Trinity United Methodist Church in Knoxville. And more to the point, Frazier had written a prize-winning article last year about the Whedbee family's struggle to care for their daughter Brittany, now 4, who had had a series of strokes as a toddler and also suffers from Down syndrome. Within hours police arrested Frazier and Lisa, and on Aug. 10 a Knoxville grand jury indicted them on charges including attempted first-degree murder. In the year that Frazier's article appeared, investigators believe, the pair became lovers and later decided to kill Rob Whedbee—perhaps to collect on his reported $1.5 million insurance policy.
Reaction to the attack among friends and acquaintances was one of disbelief. Frazier, an opera buff who was married to his second wife, Tracy, 31, was a popular figure at the church. He worked there as a part-time organist to supplement his income from the Oak Ridger, where he had worked since 1988. Lisa sang in the volunteer church choir. The other connection between the two was Frazier's article, "A Mother's Nightmare, A Mother's Dream," which had portrayed Lisa in highly sympathetic—even heroic—terms. Paul Jones, the music director at the church, says it never occurred to him that the two might be having an affair. "Everyone loved Michael," he adds. "He's a real tight part of this church family." But no one was more aghast at the accusations than Lisa and Rob's neighbors. "I know a lot of people who don't appear happy," says Suzanne Shinn, who lives next door in the suburban neighborhood. "They always did."
Yet appearances, in this case, were misleading. Last April, Lisa Whedbee consulted attorney Sarah Sheppeard about a divorce. Then, on May 17, she filed a petition for an order of protection. In it, she alleged that when she returned home after the appointment with Sheppeard, her husband was angrily waiting for her. "He told me that my attorney would not ever make it to court for me because he would kill her first, then he would kill my best friend for helping me," Lisa claimed in the court document. The following week, when Whedbee noticed that she had removed her wedding rings, she declared, he "placed his hands around my neck, choking me (in front of Brittany), and told me how he would snap my neck." Then he allegedly raped her.
Whedbee, Lisa's husband of 12 years, adamantly denies her accusations. "I have never been physically or mentally abusive to [my] wife," Whedbee stated in a divorce action he began hours after the June 8 assault. In fact, in his testimony at a preliminary hearing, he contended that Lisa threatened him with domestic violence. Last May 15, according to Whedbee, after one particularly heated argument over whether their children, Justin, 8, and Brittany, should be allowed to swim at his parents' house, he encountered his wife in the basement carrying a loaded shotgun, which she pointed in his direction. Whedbee ran from the house.
Since the attempted knifing, Lisa has fired off a divorce counterclaim of her own, citing "irreconcilable differences" and asking for sole custody of Justin and Brittany. But because Rob obtained a temporary injunction forbidding any contact with the children, who remain with their father, she has seen neither one since her arrest. Released that night on $50,000 bail, Lisa spent nearly two weeks under psychiatric treatment in an undisclosed hospital. As for her possible defense, lawyers intend to argue that a statement she made to police on the day of the attack, in which she apparently admitted having an affair with Frazier and letting him into the house, should be thrown out because she did not have an attorney present. Like Lisa, Frazier, who is also free on bail, is expected to plead not guilty at their arraignment on Sept. 9. Whatever the outcome of the trial, which may not begin until next year, the June 8 attack has left local residents wondering if anything these days can be taken for granted. Says the Whedbees' neighbor Bill Shinn: "The Whedbees were the perfect family. They were the perfect neighbors. And Lisa was the perfect wife."
MARJORIE ROSEN
AMY ESKIND and MARTHA HUME in knoxville
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Contributors:
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Amy Eskind,
·
Martha Hume.
