Judge orders Roberts held until trial on murder of pregnant woman

Accused killer of mother and baby will not be released on bail

Pamplin Media Group, Nov 10, 2009, Updated Nov 10, 2009

Korena E. Roberts of Beaverton will stay in jail pending her trial for the June 5 murder of a pregnant Tigard woman and her newborn son.

Pamplin Media Group file photo

Korena E. Roberts of Beaverton will not be released on bail prior to her trial sometime next year on charges that she brutally murdered a pregnant 21-year-old Tigard woman and cut her unborn baby from her abdomen.

Roberts, 27, is in Washington County Jail facing charges for aggravated murder and first-degree robbery in the June 5 death of Heather Meagan Snively in a Marlene Village house on Northwest Mill Creek Drive. Snively’s badly beaten body was found early that evening stuffed in the house’s crawlspace and her unborn baby boy was found with Roberts at St. Vincent Hospital and Medical Center, where Roberts told doctors and nurses that she had the child in a botched home birth.

Washington County Circuit Judge Don Letourneau ruled Tuesday morning that there was enough evidence to continue holding Roberts until her trial. No date has been set for the trial, but two more evidence hearings are planned in February and March 2010.

Roberts did not attend Tuesday morning’s hearing in Hillsboro. Her attorneys said she strongly refused to be in the courtroom and waived her right to be present at the hearing.

During the hearing, Washington County District Attorney Robert Hermann methodically laid out evidence that Roberts killed Snively for her baby. Hermann declined to say if Roberts could face the death penalty if she was convicted.

“She is eligible for the death penalty,” he said.

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