Wisconsin couple killed execution-style by daughter's boyfriend, prosecutors say
A judge in Madison, Wisconsin, has set $1 million bail for two teenagers charged with the execution-style murders of a respected doctor and an education coach.
During the early morning hours of March 31, two joggers came upon the bodies of Dr. Beth Potter and her husband, Robin Carre, lying off the roadway in the University of Wisconsin Arboretum and covered in blood, police said. A witness told the University of Wisconsin-Madison Police Department that they had heard a series of gunshots after 11 p.m. the night before.
Carre, 57, was pronounced dead at the scene as Potter, 52, was taken to a nearby hospital where she later died. Both were shot in the head and were left for dead in their house clothes with no shoes, according to the criminal complaint.
Investigators conducted several interviews that led them to arrest and charge Khari Sanford, the boyfriend of the couple's adopted daughter, and Sanford's friend Ali'Jah Larrue with two counts of first-degree murder. Sanford and Larrue made their court appearance on Tuesday via video conference, where a plea was not entered for the felony charges.
The day before the couple was murdered, Potter confided in a friend that they had moved her adopted daughter, Miriam Potter Carre, and Sanford into an Airbnb because they weren't abiding by the rules of COVID-19 social distancing, according to the criminal complaint.
Potter, a doctor at University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics, had a greater risk of infection because of medications she was taking, and she was concerned about the teenagers going in and out of the house, the complaint said.
"You don’t care about me," Potter Carre allegedly told her mother as they were being moved out.
Police say when they questioned Potter Carre about the night of March 30, she told them that she had stayed at the rental property with Sanford and that she had fallen asleep after watching a movie. But traffic cameras captured her parents' van driving by the crime scene, and a forensic search of Potter Carre's cell phone showed that she was not with Sanford at that time, according to the criminal complaint.
Potter Carre allegedly told police that she loved her boyfriend and was extremely loyal to him. Dane County Prosecutors did not respond to a request for comment on whether Potter Carre was implicated in her parents' death.
When police caught up with Larrue, he told them that he was friends and classmates with Sanford and Potter Carre.
Larrue allegedly told police that before schools were closed due to the pandemic, he had overheard Sanford and Potter Carre talking in ceramics class about getting money from her parents, who "were rich," according to the criminal complaint.
Sanford allegedly identified Larrue as an accomplice who, in turn, gave police permission to analyze his phone activity, according to the criminal complaint.
Sanford's attorneys, Diana Maria Van Rybroek and Crystal Vera, declined to comment on the case Tuesday evening. Requests for comment from Larrue's attorney were not returned. Sanford and Larrue's next court date is April 16.
The families of Potter and Carre are anticipating establishing a memorial fund to provide resources for community activities that were important to the couple, according to the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health website.
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