Robottis arrested inside police station minutes after tip received, court hears
Special to The Herald
Minutes after receiving a tip that Roxanne Louie was not only missing, but that she had been killed, police arrested siblings Grace and Pier Robotti inside the Penticton RCMP detachment.
Louie, a 26-year-old member of the Osoyoos Indian band, was killed in January 2015.
Her son’s great-grandmother, Grace Robotti, admitted to killing Louie by hitting her in the head repeatedly with a crowbar, but she is pleading not guilty to murder.
On Jan. 11, 2015, around noon, Const. Kelly Grant received notice that two people, Zachary and Tanya Steele, had arrived at the Penticton RCMP detachment and had information concerning Louie.
At the time, Louie was considered a missing person.
Grant met the Steeles in the foyer of the detachment to escort them to an interview room.
At that time, he saw Grace Robotti in the waiting area with a man, whom he later learned was her brother, Pier.
After speaking with the Steeles, Grant formed the opinion that Louie was dead and that she had been killed, the court heard during Grace Robotti’s trial Wednesday morning in Kelowna. He then instructed officers to arrest both Robottis and the investigation morphed from a missing person investigation to a homicide investigation.
Cpl. Chad Parsons arrested Grace Robotti while Const. Michael Desmond arrested Pier Robotti.
“That was based on information that was provided by Const. Grant after interviewing Mr. and Mrs. Steele at the Penticton detachment,” said Parsons. “Const. Grant had learned from the Steeles that (Pier) had gone over to Grace’s house and walked in on a domestic, and there was a situation that involved Roxanne and Grace, where (Pier) ended up removing Roxanne.”
Before Parsons could finish providing details of the Steeles’ statements, Crown counsel Mallory Treddenick stopped him.
Prior to the arrests, Grant rallied RCMP members across the province to aid in the investigation, sensing the seriousness of the case.
“I was worried about Roxanne, that her whereabouts weren’t adding up,” said Grant. “Although very early in this investigation, I was worried.”
The night of her death, Louie and her son were staying at Grace Robotti’s home in Penticton.
According to Robotti, Louie announced around midnight the morning of Jan. 4 that she was going to stay at a friend’s house.
Louie and her son were scheduled to fly home to Vancouver that morning.
“Roxanne walking away at midnight on that night was worrisome to us and it became the highest priority for us,” said Grant. “We basically poured the weight of the RCMP onto this investigation.”
Grant instructed officers to create a profile for Louie and to collect her cellphone records, banking records and Facebook records.
Vancouver city police were also contacted to attend Louie’s residence there.
Two days prior to her arrest, Robotti spoke to Grant in an interview, discussing the night of Louie’s death.
The video of the interview was played in court Wednesday morning.
Robotti insisted she did not know why Louie left to stay at a friend’s house that night, or which friend she was with.
“I don’t know what goes through her mind,” said Robotti. “I reminded her of the plane in the morning and to please call when she was headed to the airport.”
The next morning, Robotti sent multiple text messages to Louie’s phone asking where she was, but received no response.
“She is not a person who maintains a schedule,” said Robotti.
Grant reminded Robotti she needed to be truthful.
“We will spend a relentless amount of time to determine the truth,” he said.
Police found Louie’s body face down under the snow in a wooded area near Naramata on Jan. 12.
The cause of death was determined to be blunt-force trauma to the head.
Pier Robotti appeared in court earlier this month before a judge alone. A publication ban prohibits the reporting of any details from the hearing.