Shadow of Evil: Jacqueline Roubideaux and the Oklahoma Refrigerator Murders
In 1976 and 1977, the city of Lawton, Oklahoma was horrified when 3 toddlers were abducted and locked inside a refrigerator. After one of the children survived, she identified her abductor
Background
On Halloween night in 1977, a family in Lawton, Oklahoma, would have their lives forever changed when their 19-month-old daughter, Nima Louise Carter, vanished from her crib during the night.
Weeks later, a horrific discovery was made: little Nima was found in an abandoned house a few blocks away from the Carters’ home. She had been locked inside a refrigerator. This tragedy bore eerie similarities to another child abduction and murder in the same town the previous year.
Twin toddlers Tina and Mary Carpitcher had also been abducted from their home and locked inside a refrigerator in an abandoned house. Tina had survived the ordeal, but tragically, Mary did not. Two small children, both killed in a horrific and similar manner, had one common thread that connected them: the babysitter they’d both shared.
A Parent’s Worst Nightmare
On November 1st, 1977, George and Rose Carter awoke to a scene that would send any parent into a spiral. Their daughter, 19-month-old Nima Louise Carter, was missing from her crib.
The night before, George and Rose had heard their daughter crying after putting her to bed. Wanting to teach their child to self-soothe, George and Rose remained in their room, and shortly after, Nima stopped crying.
When morning came, the Carters quickly realized that Nima was not in her crib. They did not immediately panic, as Nima was known to be adventurous and a bit of an escape artist. After searching the home and finding no sign of Nima, George and Rose grew increasingly more concerned.
The windows in Nima’s room were tightly locked, as was the front door of the home. There were no signs of forced entry anywhere. George and Rose searched the inside of the home and the surrounding property, checking every possible place where Nima could be, but they found nothing.
The following day, the family ran an ad offering a $1000 reward for any information leading to Nima’s safe return. Nima’s grandmother was concerned that she had somehow made it out of the house and was now lost outside. With dangerously cold temperatures rapidly approaching, the concern for Nima’s life only grew.
Investigation
Naturally, George and Rose were initially considered suspects. However, they both cooperated fully with investigation efforts, passed polygraph examinations, and displayed genuine concern for their daughter.
George was convinced that whoever had taken Nima must have been someone who had been inside the family’s home before, later speculating that her abductor may have been hiding in Nima’s closet when they put her to bed that night.
During the investigation, George told authorities that several months prior, on April 19th, the Carter family’s home had been burglarized. Photos of Nima had been stolen from the house and scattered outside behind the shed.
George also shared that two months prior to Nima’s disappearance, their home was vandalized, and their dog had been poisoned. Despite George’s insistence that these incidents were likely connected to the disappearance of his daughter, authorities disagreed, believing them to be isolated and unrelated.
A Tragic Discovery
Weeks passed without any new information related to Nima’s whereabouts. Then, on November 23rd, 1977, her grieving parents received the worst news imaginable. A Fort Hill soldier was visiting the home of a friend approximately a mile away from the Carter family home. While there, he decided to explore the abandoned house next door.
The man went into the house, and upon entering the kitchen, the soldier stumbled upon a horrific scene. The refrigerator door was open, and on the floor was the lifeless body of Nima Carter. The inside of the fridge was bloodied. It was later determined that Nima’s body had fallen out after neighborhood children had previously opened the refrigerator door while playing in the house.
Nima was still dressed in the same outfit her parents had put her to bed in on that fateful Halloween night. Her body was badly decomposed, but authorities did confirm her identity and deliver the heartbreaking news to her parents, who were still holding out hope of seeing their daughter alive again.
The autopsy found that Nima had been alive when she was placed inside the refrigerator. After the initial processing of the brutal scene, both authorities and members of the local community could not shake the feeling of déjà vu they all felt: they had seen this before, and not too long ago.
A Similar Crime
On April 18th, 1976, three-year-old twins Tina and Mary Carpitcher had been abducted from their grandmother’s Lawton home. The girls had been watching TV in the living room while their grandmother vacuumed. The abduction occurred in broad daylight in the middle of the home.
Three days later, a group of teenagers exploring a nearby abandoned home heard screaming coming from a refrigerator. They opened the fridge, and inside, they found the two twin girls.
The girls had been locked in the fridge for three days. Tina had miraculously survived, having managed to press her nose into the seal of the refrigerator door and breathe in just enough oxygen to stay alive. Unfortunately, Mary was already dead when the girls were found, having died from asphyxiation due to the lack of oxygen in the sealed space.
After her rescue, Tina told the teenagers that she and her sister had been locked in the fridge by another teenager, 16-year-old Jacqueline Roubideaux. According to Tina, Jacqueline, who sometimes babysat the twins, had told them to wait there for their aunt to come and get them. Jacqueline was friends with the twins’ aunt, so the girls had no reason not to trust her. However, their aunt never came, and Jacqueline never returned.
Justice Delayed
Upon examining the stories of Tina and Mary Carpitcher and Nima Carter, the similarities are eerily striking. Many in the community believed without a doubt that Jacqueline Roubideaux was responsible for both these horrific cases. Besides the similarities in the crimes, Jacqueline had babysat for both families.
This begs the question: if Roubideaux was responsible for what happened to Tina and Mary back in 1976, why was she still free and still babysitting? Could Nima’s death have been prevented?
Despite the account given by young Tina Carpitcher, the lack of physical evidence and other eyewitnesses to tie Jacqueline Roubideaux to the crime meant that she was allowed to remain free. Though rumors circulated, Robideaux eventually got back into babysitting.
Given that Robideaux sometimes babysat for the Carters, she was questioned following Nima’s disappearance. In fact, she had babysat Nima the night before her abduction, and the Carters had asked her to babysit on Halloween night, but she declined, saying she had plans to play bingo.
Robideaux used this bingo game as her alibi for the night of Nima’s disappearance, but investigators noticed her behavior during questioning was strange.
Then, in 1979, Jacqueline Robideaux was formally charged with the 1976 murder of Mary Carpitcher. Her first trial, which concluded in 1982, ended in a mistrial after jurors could not reach a verdict after 10 hours of deliberation. Robideaux was 21 at the time, and a now 9-year-old Tina testified for the prosecution.
The prosecutors had waited three years to file the charges against Robideaux because they were waiting for Tina to be old enough to testify.
Second Trial and Conviction
The second trial concluded in 1985. Over the course of the trials, jurors also heard testimony from Sonja Bower and Della Clark, who had been inmates with Robideaux in the Comanche County Jail. Both Bower and Clark testified that Robideaux had admitted to them in 1981 that she had abducted Tina and Mary and locked them in the refrigerator.
Bower testified that Robideaux had made her admission of guilt with absolute confidence and defiance, claiming she heard Robideaux say, “Hell yes, I did it and I’ll get out of it.” Despite the testimonies of Tina and two fellow inmates, Robideaux repeatedly denied her guilt before the court.
Thankfully, Robideaux’s confidence that she would escape punishment was misplaced. This time, the jury deliberated and returned a guilty verdict. Jacqueline Robideaux was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.
Following her conviction, Robideaux filed multiple appeals, but none were granted. During the closing arguments, the district attorney brought up testimony linking the case of Nima Carter to the case of Tina and Mary Carpitcher; despite the shocking similarities, Roubideaux was never charged with the death of Nima Carter.
Aftermath
Many investigators and members of the local community were convinced that Jacqueline Robideaux was responsible for both the tragic and horrific cases, given the incredible similarities. Robideaux had babysat for both families, and the Carpitchers and Carters lived only about 10 minutes apart.
Despite the prevailing opinions, George Carter was never convinced that Robideaux killed his daughter. In later interviews, he said that he never got the feeling that she was involved in what happened to Nima, and he still believes the previous burglary and vandalism of their home are incidents connected to Nima’s case.
Jacqueline Robideaux died in prison in 2005 from cancer-related complications, and with her likely died any chance of confirming a connection between the two cases. To this day, the case of Nima Carter remains open and unsolved.
Sources:
Shannonhouse, Claire R. “Woman Found Guilty in Suffocation of Lawton Girl; Life Sentence Imposed.” The Daily Oklahoman, 22 May 1982, https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/1983/05/22/woman-found-guilty-in-suffocation-of-lawton-girl-life-sentence-imposed/
Thompson, Joann. “Lawton Jury Mulls Tot Suffocation Case.” The Daily Oklahoman, 17 February 1982, https://www.newspapers.com/image/452291201/
Thompson, Joann. “Defendant Denies Locking Up Twins.” The Daily Oklahoman, 12 February 1982, https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/1982/02/12/defendant-denies-locking-up-twins/
“Mistrial ruled in refrigerator death of child.” The Daily Oklahoman, 17 February 1982, https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/1982/02/17/mistrial-ruled-in-refrigerator-death-of-child/
Taylor, April A. “Nima Louise Carter Was Abducted On Halloween 1977, And Her Murder Is Still Unsolved.” Ranker, 8 August 2022, https://www.ranker.com/list/halloween-baby-case-1977/april-a-taylor
“Nima Louise Carter and The Carpitcher Twins FINAL HARLOWEEN VIDEO.” Uploaded by Stephanie Harlowe. Uploaded 2 November 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uieuNgYv4bk
Since it was not stated what the motive was, and taking into account the incidents which occurred at one of the homes before the daughter disappeared, I would think the teenage girl was motivated by disregard for society: the teenage girl's disregard is shown through the attempted poisoning of the dogs, the vandalism of the house, and the two second-degree murders and the attempted second-degree murder. She has a personality which goes along with her disregard for society, as evidenced by her desire to play bingo: a form of gambling and thus an indicator of recklessness, lack of impulse control, and need for instant gratification. The reason for the disregard is the intergenerational trauma Natives and descendants of non-affluent Anglos have, the trauma encouraging delinquent activity (hence the three traits I mentioned). If there was sexual assault, this indicates a desire for power and the targeting of the girls indicates a fear of males: the fact amongst the children she babysat she happened to target these three girls indicates she wanted the weakest out of pragmatism like how animals in the wild target the young, old, sick, and injured.
Since Natives are devout Christians and they were always sexually conservative (despite supporting the rights of Two-Spirits and Three-Spirits) this would indicate the killer experienced sexual abuse at the residential school she went to: the tribal council using the residential school to host a luncheon had the unintended effect of whitewashing the school. I would suspect the girls she killed were easy targets because they were also victims of mistreatment at the schools, or even due to intergenerational trauma their drunken parents.