When a man has no anchor to his job or to others, his chance of turning to crime is great, says William Sharp, the retired Owen County judge who sentenced Robert E. Lee in 1981 to two years in prison.
Lee, who is charged with murder in connection with the slaying of former IU graduate student Ellen Sears Marks, had moved to Spencer in 1979, after serving five years in a New York prison for attempted rape.
Since arriving in Indiana, Lee frequently has been without a job and has had little contact with his family.
“I haven’t seen Robert in about 10 years, and we haven’t spoken in about seven,” said his father, George Lee. “He very seldom contacts us.”
Robert Lee, who lived with his mother and stepfather in Spencer, told a counselor at the Community Mental Health Center he fought with them often.
He later moved into the Owen Valley Hotel on Main Street, where he lived until July 1981.
That month, he was arrested for attempting to siphon gas from a school bus, according to court records. He told
Sharp during sentencing that his car had stalled, and the school bus was the closest source of gas.
“The thing that struck me about him is he had no visible means of support, and he seemed to have floated in here from New York,” the retired judge said.
“He paid his bills and tended to his own business, so I didn’t know him well at all,” said John Miller, who owned the hotel where Lee lived.
Miller couldn’t recall when Lee had left Spencer to move into a duplex at 506 N. Adams St.
Lee’s lack of close friendships impaired his ability to work and associate with others, staff therapist Alane Phelps wrote to Lee’s probation officer in 1981.
Lee attended five sessions with Phelps at the mental health center between Dec. 18, 1980 and Jan. 29, 1981. She diagnosed Lee as having a “schizoid personality disorder.”
Phelps said Lee had a long-term pattern of emotional coldness, and indifference to praise and criticism. There was no evidence of a psychotic disorder, she said.
He was forming a “solid relationship” with her, but did not believe he yet could trust her with his deepest feelings, she wrote.
Lee told her that he had been told before he views everything pessimistically, but believed this was because “from day one nothing has gone his way,” she said.
He appeared to have average, or somewhat below average, intelligence, she said.
“Bob feels discouraged to do anything on his own, because every time he has tried to assert himself he has been shot down in flames,” she wrote. “He fears nothing will work out for him: that his plans will all fall through.”
Monroe County Sheriff Jimmie Young refused to grant a reporter an interview with Lee. He said an interview could jeopardize lee’s right to a fair trial.
George Lee, who lives in Ohio, said he was unaware his son is being held without bond in the Monroe County Jail on a charge of murder.
“I never received any information from Bloomington about it.”
Police arrested Robert Lee Sept. 24.
Marks, 30, was found dismembered Sept. 21 in a vacant lot at 10th and Summit streets, about 60 yards from Lee’s duplex on North Adams Street. Her head and hands still haven’t been found.
Police believe a script, detailing the killing and mutilation of unidentified women, could link Lee to the slaying.
The script was given to police three years ago by an informant who claimed Lee wrote it. Lee was brought in for questioning at the time, but was released because he had committed no crime.
His father believes Lee’s childhood friends were a bad influence on him.
“His friends were ex-military brats, and he got involved with a few pot smokers in high school,” his father said.
“I’m not sure what his religious beliefs are now, but as a child he was interested in his Christian Science,” his father said.
Robert Lee told Owen County officials in 1981 he still followed his religion. Christian Scientists believe the “real” man reflects God, and is spiritual – the material body and the mortal mind are unreal counterfeits.
Lee’s parents were married in New York and he is the only child from that marriage, which ended in 1960 after five years.
George Lee was awarded custody when his wife failed to appear for the custody hearing. Betty Jean Lee, who now goes by another name, later told the court she could not appear because she had no money or job.
Lee has two half-sisters, one by his fathers’ remarriage and one from his mother’s marriage before she married George Lee. He also has a half-brother from his father’s remarriage.
Robert Lee told Phelps that life with his father had been very strict. He said he was grounded often, physically beaten and denied food.
His father, however, denied had been too strict and beat Robert.
“I’m not sure what the definition of strict is, but he was made to behave just like everyone else,” George Lee said.
But officials of the Ohio school system Robert attended intervened to investigate possible abuse, according to court records.
“That’s news to me,” his father said. “We had no problems to speak of here with him, and I don’t recall him having problems with his brothers and sisters.”
The 5-foot-4-inch Lee lived in Ohio until he was a junior in high school, when he moved to New York to live with his mother.
“That’s where he got in trouble,” his father said.
Lee received his graduate equivalency diploma in 1980, but his father said he believed Lee had graduated from high school in New York.
Lee worked as a custodian in the Indiana Memorial Union from January to May 1980.
“He worked the night shift for me, and I never had any problems with him,” said Marvin Frye, night maintenance supervisor.
Frye said Lee was fired because he went on a strict diet during the time he worked for him, and couldn’t keep up with his work. Lee lost 40 pounds, over a year, court records show.
In October 1980, Lee started work at the Occupational Development Center in Spencer, where he stayed for six months.
From there, he went to Cable Converter Service Corp. in 1981, where he lasted two months.
“He didn’t associate with anyone and always kept to himself,” said Yvonne Wright, personnel manager for the cable company.
Lee was dismissed from the cable company because “he took too long to learn his job and wasn’t quick enough,” she said.
He was employed at 7-Eleven, 1122 W. 11th St., at the time of his arrest.
The 31-year-old was unemployed when he was arrested in Owen County five years ago and charged with attempted theft for trying to steal gas.
Judge Sharp, who lives in Spencer, said he remembers Lee in the courtroom.
“The most unusual thing about him is that I do recall him,” he said. “I was a judge for 20 years, and he was only in here once.”
“Lee was extremely honest with me in the courtroom,” he said.
