Ex-Penn Professor Who Killed Wife Must Pay $124 Million

Rafael Robb — the deluded former Penn professor who killed his wife Ellen in 2006 — must pay the estate of his former wife $124 million, a jury ruled yesterday.

The civil trial began earlier this week.

Jurors returned a unanimous verdict after five hours. An attorney for the estate of Ellen Gregory Robb told the Inquirer it is the largest contested jury verdict in the history of Pennsylvania. “He has millions … and we will take that away from him,” Robert Mongeluzzi told the paper.

Robb bludgeoned his wife to death with a chin-up bar before Christmas in 2006, staged a break-in, and stuffed her body in a Dumpster in Chinatown. She was about to divorce him. He pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in 2007 and was sentenced to 5 to 10 years in prison the next year.

He was set to be paroled last year, but the decision was reversed after an outcry.

Robb’s daughter Olivia, 20, testified at the civil trial. She said the year her mother was killed was the hardest of her life, and she could not sleep because she feared for her life. All the money received in the civil judgement — Rafael Robb does not have $124 million, but he’s believed to have deep pockets — will go to her.

“The family is grateful for the actions of the jury,” Mongeluzzi told the Daily Pennsylvanian, “and they hope to send the message to everyone that domestic violence and abuse will not be tolerated.”

[Inquirer]