A Wyandotte County District Court jury has convicted the first of three people accused of first-degree murder in the brutal beating death of Robin Bell of Tonganoxie. Bell, 44, was the stepmother of Ashlie Marx-Bell of Emporia and Erin Bell of Madison.
Bell, the manager of a Dollar General Store in Bonner Springs, was working late on Nov. 11, 2005, when she was killed during a robbery at the store. Her body was found inside the store after she failed to come home from work.
The jury convicted Robert Haberlein of Kansas City, Kan., after two hours of deliberations, said Erin Bell, who attended the trial with her father, Don Bell, and other members of the family.
Haberlein was the only defense witness and he recanted earlier statements that implicated him in the crime, The Associated Press reported.
Haberlein was 17 at the time of the crime and was tried as an adult because of his violent record.
Erin Bell described her impressions of Haberlein’s trial.
“Robert was sitting there smiling and laughing all week long,” Bell said. “... He even laughed during the autopsy pictures.”
Bell said that she had stayed in the courtroom when the autopsy photos were entered into evidence.
“My dad and my grandma walked out of the room when they showed the pictures,” Bell said. “I stayed because I would have always had questions on what really happened.”
The photos showed a total of 48 injuries to Robin Bell’s body.
“They were sick,” Erin Bell said of the photos. “I was sitting right behind him (Haberlein) and my whole body was just shaking. ... He was just sitting there laughing, thinking it was all fun and games.”
Bell said that on the stand, Haberlein admitted he used cocaine.
“He was proud to admit that,” she said.
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