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Professor charged with wife's death

Ivy League professor Rafael Robb was an expert in game theory, a complex melding of psychology, human behavior and economics -- all aimed at determining what one's adversary will do next.

With that background, police say, Robb may have thought he could outsmart them.

Robb, who is originally from Israel, was charged this week with bludgeoning his wife to death after what police called a bungled attempt to make it look like a burglary.

"The efforts to throw police off were amateurish," District Attorney Bruce Castor said.

Police said the 56-year-old tenured professor at the University of Pennsylvania killed his wife in the kitchen of their suburban home Dec. 22 because he feared a ruinous divorce.

Crime scene investigators realized that glass from a broken window had not been trampled on. The family dog, which had been locked in a bedroom, did not bark. And Robb's alibi -- that he was in Philadelphia -- did not entirely check out.

And, police added, no stranger would have beaten the stay-at-home mother beyond recognition.

Punishment

"This was an attack that was designed to punish somebody who was threatening him," the district attorney said.

Police believe Robb feared a divorce would wreck him financially and harm his relationship with his 12-year-old daughter. The divorce lawyer had told Ellen Robb she could expect about US$4,000 a month for 10 to 15 years.

If convicted of murder, Robb could get life in prison.

Friends knew the couple kept separate bedrooms, and could see the tension between husband and wife.

"I, unfortunately, in the last couple years, did not have any conversations with her because she was withdrawn so much," said Becky Best, who was maid of honor at the couple's wedding in 1990.

The couple had met through a dating service a few years before their marriage, she said.

The couple's fragile equilibrium started to break last year, when Ellen Robb hired a divorce lawyer, leased an apartment and confided to a friend that Robb had struck her, authorities said. She planned to move out on Jan. 1.

Four days before her 50th birthday, Ellen Robb was beaten as she wrapped presents in the kitchen. Robb told police he discovered her body after dropping off his semester grades at Penn.

Response

Police questioned Robb's supposed response to finding the body. Robb said he touched his wife's body and brought his briefcase and laptop computer up-stairs. He then checked on the family dog, stopped in the bathroom and laundry room, and walked to his car before calling for help from a cellphone, according to court papers.

Defense lawyer Francis Genovese said police still have no physical evidence to tie Robb to the crime, even after searching his home, office and car and taking blood and fingerprint samples.

Penn officials declined to comment, noting only that someone else would be taking over Robb's coursework this semester.
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