When Frank Arwood hit a Las Vegas slot machine jackpot for $250,000 in 1982, his wife, Vaughn Robinson, said, ”It`s like a dream come true.”
The dream ended in a chilling telephone call to Miami police who tape recorded her murder on Wednesday. The nightmare continued to unfold Thursday for her husband, a Miami tomato wholesaler.
Arwood`s teenage daughter is charged with her stepmother`s murder. The girl, a high school junior, plotted to have both parents killed, said Homicide Sgt. Karl Robins.
Estelle Arwood, 18, and two 15-year-old boys who attend junior high schools, are charged with first degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. The motives, police say, were love and money.
Estelle Arwood dated one of the boys, police said. Her parents objected to the interracial romance. The couple then conspired to kill the parents.
The second boy, a cousin of the girl`s boyfriend, learned of the murder plot recently and joined in, police said.
Arwood normally leaves for work at the farmer`s market at 2 a.m.
After he was gone, at 4 a.m. Wednesday, police say, Estelle Arwood unlocked and opened a window in the family home.
She let the two boys into the house, police say. One hid in a closet, the other under a bed.
Robinson confronted one of the boys prematurely, at 8:15 a.m.
The frightened woman ran for the telephone and dialed the operator, who connected her to Miami police.
Police operator Cynthia Carter took the call. The conversation went like this:
Victim: ”Send somebody out here, 1526 NW 31 St., right now. There`s a colored guy in my house!”
Operator: ”1526?”
Victim: ”Yes.”
Operator: ”Okay, hold on. Don`t hang up. . .”
Victim: (Screaming) ”Go away! (Unintelligible) Boy, you have no right in here. Get out!”
Operator: ”Hello. Hello.”
Victim: Screams.
Operator: ”Hello.”
Victim: ”Help me!”
Operator: ”Hello.”
A long silence. Then another voice, a male voice, came on the line.
”Hello. You can cancel that, please.”
Operator: ”All right.”
Male Voice: ”Thank you.”
Police who arrived in minutes found Robinson strangled with an electric cord. The telephone had been placed back on the hook.
Notified of his wife`s death by police, Arwood went to pick up his daughter at school. ”She was quite surprised,” Robins said. ”He was supposed to be dead too.”
Police received a tip about the daughter and the two boys. They confronted her. She confessed, they said.
Sgt. Robins went out and found the boys, one at home, the other a block from his house. ”I took one look at them and I knew that they knew I knew,” Robins said.
Arwood, police said, is lucky to be alive. What saved him, Carberry said, ”is the fact that his wife got on the phone and called the police. I`m sure he`s devastated.”
