Background: Police investigate the crime scene on Green Cedar Lane in Virginia Beach, Virginia, where the remains of Cynthia Capps were found in October 2020 (WAVY/YouTube). Inset: Hagen Roberts (Virginia Beach Sheriff”s Office).
A Virginia man will spend the remainder of his life behind bars after being convicted of brutally murdering a woman by stabbing her more than 90 times and concealing her body in a toolbox.
Hagen Lawrence Roberts, aged 41, received a life sentence plus an additional five years, as announced by the City of Virginia Beach. This follows his November conviction for the first-degree murder of 63-year-old Cynthia Capps and for committing a stabbing during a felony.
According to the prosecution, the gruesome incident occurred on October 8, 2020. Capps’ husband contacted emergency services, reporting that he had taken a shower and subsequently could not locate his wife. During his search of their home, he discovered a solitary drop of blood on the kitchen floor, prompting him to alert the authorities.
Upon arrival, officers from the Virginia Beach Police Department learned that the couple had rented a room to Roberts. When attempting to access his room, they found the door locked.
Police forced entry and found Roberts lying on his bed. He appeared to have recently showered, as he was wet, and had a cut on his right hand wrapped in a black bandana. As their investigation extended to the backyard, officers uncovered blood stains.
The search led to the horrific discovery of Capps’ remains inside a toolbox, showing severe trauma to her head and face. A forensic examination revealed she had been stabbed over 90 times, specifically targeting her head, face, and neck. Moreover, investigators retrieved a metal shard, suspected to be the tip of a knife, from her skull.
Inside Roberts’ room, officers found a “black folding knife with a broken tip covered in dried blood,” as well as blood-covered clothes in the outside trash can and bloodstains throughout the house. The metal shard was also found to be a “direct match” to the folding knife found in the room.
DNA from both Capps and Roberts was found on the knife, the clothing, and in the bloodstains, prosecutors added. Roberts was arrested, though he maintained his innocence.
“The picture you’re painting of me as a menace to society, and a killer with no remorse, is not true,” Roberts said, according to The Virginia-Pilot. “I do have remorse. But I can’t lie and admit to something I didn’t do.”
The presiding judge in the case, however, called the evidence against Roberts “overwhelming,” and the defendant was given the maximum sentence possible. City of Virginia Beach officials did not mention a suspected motive in their press releases announcing Roberts’ conviction and sentencing.
Capps’ obituary says she was a “dedicated mother and wife.” It adds: “Throughout her life she overcame huge obstacles. She was and is deeply loved and cherished.”
