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Former embalmer Girts pleads guilty in '92 murder of third wife
By Denise Dick
CLEVELAND
Robert Girts told a Cuyahoga County judge that he obtained cyanide and put it in the salt shaker before leaving town, knowing that his wife would use it.
Girts, 60, a Poland native and former embalmer, pleaded guilty Friday to involuntary manslaughter in the Sept. 2, 1992, poisoning death of his third wife, Diane Jones Girts, 42, and to insurance fraud.
Girts had twice been convicted of aggravated murder in Diane’s death, but those convictions were overturned, and in 2008, Girts was released from prison after serving more than 15 years. He was awaiting a third trial, which had been scheduled for this month.
The guilty pleas and subsequent convictions by Judge Michael E. Jackson of Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court mean a third trial won’t be needed.
As part of the plea agreement, Girts had to say what he had done.
“I put cyanide in the salt shaker before I left for Chicago, knowing she would use the salt,” Girts said, reading from a statement.
He said he acknowledged and accepted responsibility for his actions and expressed remorse and regret for his conduct.
Bettianne Jones, whose late husband, Barry, was Diane’s brother, told the judge she was there to speak for Diane and would continue to be.
“I want people to see she was a person,” Jones said, holding up a photograph of Diane. “She was a caring, loving person and she deserved a lot more than what she did get. Her life was taken so abruptly. She’s not ‘the victim’ or a case number. She was a person.”
Anna Faraglia, an assistant Cuyahoga County prosecutor, said Girts’ statement removes any suggestion of Diane committing suicide, which was posited in Girts’ two trials.
“This woman was murdered,” she said. “The soul of Diane Girts after 21 years can finally rest in peace.”
Prosecutors and Girts’ defense attorneys agreed on a recommended sentence of six to 30 years in prison with Girts given credit for time served. Judge Jackson followed the recommendation, leaving it up to the Ohio Parole Board to determine how much time Girts will spend in prison.
Deputies led him from the courtroom Friday, taking him to jail.
Prosecutor Timothy McGinty believes Girts’ plea is a just outcome to the long case.
“Even if we won another murder conviction and the verdict was upheld, this killer might have been out faster than he will be with this plea, which carries an excellent probability of an additional 14 years in prison,” McGinty said in a news release. “After his latest violent incident against yet another woman in Ashtabula and his forced confession in open court [Friday], we want to keep him ‘inside’ as long as possible. We believe the parole board will deny parole, and he will remain in prison well into his 70s or he will die in the institution.”
Girts was arrested in November 2012 by Geneva-on-the-Lake police and charged with criminal mischief, accused of trying to get into the home of his fourth wife’s daughter after his wife locked him out.
In January 2013, prosecutors filed a motion to revoke Girts’ bond, saying his fourth wife was afraid of him. They believed he used the Internet to look up antifreeze ingestion and had been visiting his fourth wife at work and bringing her coffee. The woman had been feeling ill and vomiting, according to a court motion.
Girts’ first wife, Terrie, also died young, the cause initially believed to be a swollen heart. After Diane’s death, Terrie’s body was exhumed. Pathologists told family members they didn’t believe that was the cause, but they didn’t detect poison.
Jones said she would continue to go to every parole board hearing for Girts to represent her sister-in-law. Both she and Kathy Kidston of Boardman, who was Diane’s best friend, said they suspected Girts immediately after Diane’s death. Both women said they never liked him but accepted him for Diane’s sake.
Kidston ran into Girts a couple of times in stores near Poland shortly after his 2008 release from prison, and Jones saw him at the Columbiana Street Fair.
“It was very scary,” Kidston said.
Both women are pleased that he’s back behind bars, but while they’ve waited a long time for Girts to admit to his crime, his statement didn’t bring satisfaction.
“There’s a finality to it, but she’s still dead,” Kidston said.
Jones, who after her husband’s death took up the mantle to ensure Girts faces justice, agreed.
“I don’t think it’s hit me yet,” she said.