Naman Shrestha
When a well-known former Marine named Robert “Rob” McElrath was found dead at Devil’s Corral in early January 2011, the entire community of Susanville, California, was shocked to its core. As the detectives intensified the investigation, they uncovered some dark secrets that eventually led them to a deadly plot and the perpetrator/s responsible for the murder. In the episode titled ‘A Body At Devil’s Corral’ of Investigation Discovery’s ‘Til Death Do Us Part,’ all the intricate details of the case are explored with the help of insightful interviews with officials linked to the investigation.
Rob McElrath’s Remains Were Found Off the Devil’s Corral Bridge
Born on April 26, 1973, in Susanville, California, to Dorene Perez, Robert James “Rob” McElrath was raised alongside his two siblings, including a sister named Jennifer. He was very young when his parents got divorced and his father remarried another woman, with whom he fathered a couple more children. Rob was a popular figure among his peers in high school as he was not only on the football team but also played saxophone in the school band. Around that time, he first crossed paths with his future wife, Joanna Beckett, who was a year junior to him. After graduating from high school, Rob joined the US Marines and served as a sniper in Kuwait and Bosnia.
Meanwhile, Joanna married a man named Rick Fincher, with whom she shared two daughters, Holly and Samantha. Not long after, they got divorced. Rob left the Marines after four years of service and pursued a career in law enforcement. A chance meeting between Rob and Joanna ignited sparks between them, and they began dating. Through his kind and compassionate nature, he managed to win the hearts of her two kids. On October 16, 1999, the couple eventually tied the knot at Burney Falls National Park and made their relationship official. After the marriage, he legally adopted Holly and Samantha and treated them as his own. By the following year, the well-liked police officer had become a father to two children of his own — Michaela and Robbie Jr.
Being a doting father and devoted husband, he looked forward to watching his kids achieve success and building a life for themselves. Unfortunately, fate intervened and shattered his dreams in the early hours of January 2, 2011. On the same morning, the police received a frantic call that informed them about human remains found beneath the Devil’s Corral bridge. When the authorities arrived at the scene, they confirmed that the victim was the former Marine, Robert McElrath. The detectives noticed blood trails on the edge of the bridge and found his vehicle parked nearby. The theory of a suicide was debunked when the autopsy concluded that another person had fatally shot the 37-year-old man in the face, and he was immediately paralyzed. Thus, a homicide investigation was launched.
Rob McElrath’s Killers Tried to Stage His Death as a Suicide at First
During the investigation, the detectives delved deeper into Rob McElrath’s marriage with Joanna McElrath and found out some disturbing details. According to reports, in the 2000s, the couple got into arguments over their financial situation. Joanna also allegedly had extramarital affairs with multiple men. In 2010, the couple parted ways, and Joanna began dating an ex-convict named Robin Glen James, who moved in with her and her kids. Soon, the two broke up, and she asked Rob to give their marriage a second chance. So, he moved back in with her and the children. Suspicious about the wife, the detectives brought her in for questioning. During her interview, she told the authorities that on the evening of January 1, 2011, Rob visited her in her house on Spruce Street, where he drank a couple of rounds of a cocktail.
According to her, they then went to his house on Fifth Street, where he became excessively drunk and began talking about his trauma related to his time in the Marines. She claimed that he then passed out on the chair while she slept in the bedroom. As per her accounts, when she woke up the following morning, he was nowhere to be seen. Next, the detectives checked cell phone records of the other suspect, Robin James. When the police brought him and Joanna in for questioning together, the latter claimed that she wasn’t being truthful in the first interview. This time, she changed her story and claimed that on the fateful night, Rob asked her to take him to the Devil’s Corral in a drunken state. She told the detectives that when she reached the bridge with Rob, Robin was already there. According to her, Rob began assaulting her, and that’s when Robin shot him to death to protect her.
Upon questioning Robin, he claimed that Joanna had told him that her husband was abusive towards her. He told the detectives that she had orchestrated a plot to kill him by adding sedatives, including Xanax and Ativan, to his drinks that night and make it seem like a suicide. Robin claimed that when that plan failed, she drove Rob to the bridge, where Robin tried to throw him off the bridge. When the ex-Marine tried fighting back, Robin shot him in the face and fled the scene with Joanna. He alleged that they returned to the scene a while later to throw his remains off the bridge. Despite the varied accounts of the incident, the detectives learned the truth by going through the text messages between the two suspects before and after the murder, revealing that Joanna had orchestrated the deadly plot. Thus, on January 6, 2011, both Joanna and Robin were arrested.
Joanna and Robin Are Serving Their Time in Separate California Prison Facilities
After more than three years, on February 28, 2014, Joanna McElrath pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in connection with Rob McElrath’s killing. A few months later, in May, she was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison and was granted credit for time already served while awaiting trial. During her hearing, Rob’s mother, Dorene Perez, took the stand and addressed the convict directly, stating, “Most mothers put their children first. You didn’t.” Joanna apologized for her crimes and claimed that her time behind bars was “far from an easy time.” She also stated, “And I know that (Robert) loves me still.”
That same year, on December 11, her accomplice, Robin James, also pleaded guilty to the first-degree murder charge. He also received a 25-year-to-life sentence for his involvement in the crime. About a decade later, in January 2023, Joanna McElrath filed a resentencing petition to have her conviction reviewed. However, her motion was seemingly denied by the court. As of today, 51-year-old Joanna is serving her sentence at Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla, California, with her parole eligibility date scheduled for December 2027. Meanwhile, 60-year-old Robin James is currently incarcerated at Sierra Conservation Center in Jamestown, California, with his parole eligibility date scheduled for February 2029.
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