Pauline Robbin Burgette, known as Robin to most, was an outgoing sixteen year old girl in 1978. She had recently dropped out of high school, allowing her more time for her social life, and for her babysitting jobs in a nearby apartment complex. According to her younger brother, Chad Burgette, she loved life and being outdoors, hated wearing shoes, and loved hot summer weather. He also considered her not just a sister, but a friend. Some of their favorite things to do were to spend weekends at Saguaro Lake swimming, or horseback riding at South Mountain.
The Burgettes were a low-income family who lived in a duplex on McDowell Road in Phoenix, AZ. Although poor, the Burgettes were also a loving family, who were close to each other.
On the weekend of March 11, 1978, Carole Burgette, Robin’s mother, went on an out-of-town visit. She took her eleven year old son with her, but made arrangements for Robin to stay with friends in town. The day of the 11th, Robin was seen throughout the day by friends and neighbors, and was at her friend’s house (by most accounts the friend she was supposed to stay with that weekend) until around 8:00 PM, when she left to call her boyfriend and arrange to see him later. It’s believed that she might have invited him to have dinner at her home.
Unfortunately, that was also the last time anyone saw her alive.
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At 5:00 PM on March 12, 1978, Chad and Carole Burgette returned home from their visit. Chad ran ahead of his mother, hoping to warn Robin of their arrival in case the house was messy. The door was ajar when he got there, and when he called for his sister, there was no answer. Chad went into his sister’s room to see if she was there, and found her body in bed.
Robin had been stabbed many times, and suffered some kind of blunt force trauma (no reports I could find stated where the trauma was). She may also have been sexually assaulted. Chad, who is in his fifties now, says there isn’t a day that goes by where he doesn’t remember finding his sister.
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Unfortunately for Chad, the tragedy didn’t end there, as three years later, Carole Burgette stopped taking her insulin and died. Chad believes Robin’s death was a big factor in this.
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The evidence in this case is sparse, but police were able to extract at least one full DNA profile from forensic evidence collected at the crime scene. The current detective in charge of the case, Detective Clark Schwartzkopf, believes that more than one person may have been responsible for Robin’s murder.
At the time of the murder, Robin was known to have two or three boyfriends at a time, and police believe that an ex or current boyfriend might have been involved in the murder. There were also threats from a woman or women at the apartment complex Robin often babysat at. Older, married men had been “coming on to” or otherwise propositioning Robin, and one or more of their wives found out. An unidentified female proceeded to threaten Robin not to come back to the apartments. It is unknown who this woman is, or whether she was questioned at the time.
If you have any information, please contact the Phoenix police department, or submit a tip anonymously through Crime Stoppers.
Sources:
http://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/arizona-news/police-look-for-clues-in-1978-cold-case-murder
http://ktar.com/story/279770/dec-22-2014/
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/18814862/pauline_burgette_murder/
http://ktar.com/story/1071386/phoenix-police-hoping-for-leads-in-1978-murder-case/
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