Woman’s Death Adds Another Twist To Child Sex Ring Case Woman In Burning Apartment Was Ex-Wife Of Figure In Wenatchee Case

The body found in a burning apartment in Leavenworth, Wash., was the ex-wife of Pastor Roby Roberson, a key figure in the Wenatchee child sex rings case, law officers said Friday.

The death of Nancy Ann McCarthy, 53, is the latest twist in a case that seems to get more bizarre by the week.

Chelan County Coroner Gerald Rappe ruled the death a suicide Friday afternoon.

“It’s just so tragic,” Roberson said in a telephone interview from the Wenatchee area.

Roberson said he was married to McCarthy very briefly in the 1980s and had not seen her for more than a decade before she gave a recent deposition in Roberson’s civil lawsuit against the Chelan County jail. She was called by lawyers for the county.

During the deposition, McCarthy refused to state her last name or where she lived and said only that she worked in law enforcement, Roberson said.

Details of what she said in the deposition have not been revealed.

In 1994 and 1995, 28 Wenatchee-area people were charged with child rape or molestation in the sex-rings investigation. Of those, 14 pleaded guilty, five were convicted and charges were dismissed or greatly reduced against six others. Three people were acquitted, including Roberson and his wife, Connie.

Since those trials, some convictions have been overturned, some witnesses have recanted and numerous parties have filed lawsuits, creating a sense of confusion over exactly what happened.

McCarthy’s body was found Thursday in the back bedroom of a burning apartment in Leavenworth, 20 miles northwest of Wenatchee.

Firefighters had raced to the apartment to put out a fire, which started in a chair, Chelan County Sheriff Dan Breda said.

McCarthy’s body was lying face down on the bed in a back bedroom, and a revolver was next to the body, law officers said. A blanket was draped over the body, sheriff’s inspector Mike Harum said.

Rappe found a bullet entry wound in the lower part of McCarthy’s face, Harum said.

The revolver was found under a pillow, still in McCarthy’s hand, he said.

Fire investigators were unable to determine the cause of the fire.

Rappe said McCarthy appeared to have died around the time the fire started.

Investigators questioned McCarthy’s husband, a former sheriff’s deputy and Washington State Patrol trooper, who told authorities he was at work as a contractor when his wife died.

Breda said the husband is not considered a suspect.

Harum said the couple, who were married last Sept. 17, had apparently had a fight the night before. They filed for a legal separation in January but withdrew the request in May, according to court records.