A widow at the center of a bitter $6 million legal dispute involving an alleged Roblox romance scam revealed a shocking family secret during a confrontation at her attorney’s office: her father-in-law was a notorious wife killer, according to a transcript filed in court.
Marianne Flippo also alleged that the man had threatened her life.
Flippo, 49, claims silver-haired gigolo Greggory Starr took advantage of her after the suicide of her wealthy husband, a Roblox programmer, and drained her of millions of dollars. The startling revelation emerged during an argument with her lawyer, Larry Hutcher, according to audio transcripts submitted in Manhattan Supreme Court.
“My deceased husband’s father, who was a pastor of a church … he was a murderer,” Flippo told Hutcher, the transcript states.
Her father-in-law was James Michael Flippo, a West Virginia pastor accused of killing his wife, Cheryl, in a brutal 1996 attack at a secluded cabin in a state park.
The alleged family connection surfaced during a July 7 meeting involving Flippo, Starr and Hutcher, as reflected in the court-filed transcript.
Flippo reportedly told Starr, a West Point graduate and trained lawyer, that she was not intimidated by him because she had already lived with someone she described as a murderer.
“I slept in the same house with him,” Flippo said, according to the transcript. “He had already murdered his wife. I had to sleep under the same roof with him, and he had already threatened to murder me … I’m not afraid.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
