Teen Killer: One Long Story Of Abuse
Indiana’s longest-serving female prisoner, Sarah “Cindy” White has been in prison 48 years for starting a fire that killed a family of six on New Year’s Eve in 1975. The Indianapolis Star, numerous television shows, and digital media have all featured her sad case, in spite of the fact that she admitted starting the fire. Why?
During her trial, the Johnson County prosecutor did his job, emotionally reeling out the damning story of a wanton young woman who had callously murdered a couple and their four children out of jealousy. She was described as a jilted lover who wanted revenge against the father, Charles Roberson. Prosecutors displayed letters and nude photographs of White that were found in Roberson’s wallet. The case against her was open and shut. The citizenry was inflamed, newspapers were awash with details, and the prosecutor hammered his case home. When the gavel slammed down, the judge had given the 18-year-old girl six life sentences.
At the scene of the fire, she was seen by a neighbor running out of the house with her pajamas on fire as she tried to get the family out of the house. It was too late. White was first sent to an Indianapolis mental hospital where she told doctors that she had been “giddy” when Charles Roberson showed an interest in her, but it soon evolved into forcing her to watch pornographic movies and engaging in perverted sexual acts in which his wife Carole Roberson was sometimes an active participant.
What the doctors never inquired about was her childhood. Though it never came out in the trial, White admitted she had been sexually molested by her father and other men in the family since the age of six. When she’d begged her mother for help, she was berated and physically threatened. She had looked constantly for a way out, and when she met the Robersons—a friendly family, who asked if she could move in and be a babysitter, she thought her problems were over. She was easily manipulated. She had been a chubby teen, who’d never had a boyfriend or even a date, and had been badly used by adults.
Stunningly, none of the information about her past was brought up at the trial. Nothing about her childhood trauma was known, as she was too ashamed and embarrassed to admit the sexual abuse she had suffered, knowing it would be telegraphed to the world with all the other terrible details of the crime. In tears, she said, I never intended for anyone to die, I was trapped and thought a fire would give me a chance to escape.”
Sarah “Cindy” White has served most of her sentence in the Indianapolis Women’s Prison. She has been punished with the fire of retribution for the horror of lost lives due to her misdeeds. But, at some point, are we done? She is 66, and has been in some kind of prison since her abuse began as a kindergartner. She’s had a stroke and is in a wheel chair. Is society in danger if this woman is released? When we consider the trauma of her youth, and the actions of adults in her life, is there any room for understanding?
And, if not, is this truly justice?
Nancy
