Michael A. Roseboro wanted to end his marriage.

He "couldn't live" anymore without his girlfriend, according to court documents.

And end the marriage Roseboro did, police said, by beating and strangling his wife, Jan, and throwing her in their backyard swimming pool where she drowned on the night of July 22.

Roseboro, 41, of 107 W. Main St., Reinholds, was arrested around 11 p.m. Saturday at his parents' home and charged with criminal homicide in the death of his wife. He is being held in Lancaster County Prison without bail.

District Attorney Craig Stedman, speaking at a news conference this morning to announce the charges, said Roseboro's arrest "is not a time for celebration."


      Roseboro murder news conference, part 1 (8:55) 
      Roseboro murder news conference, part 2 (8:31)


"Obviously this is an extremely solemn time. This is a very serious case. We have a terrible tragedy and on top of criminal charges you have children here — four, three of whom are minors," he said. "Our condolences go to Jan Roseboro's family and friends at this time."

Stedman declined to say where the children are living.

"This is a terrible tragedy," he said. "This is a nightmare for these children. Their one mother is gone. Their father is in jail for this. And we've got a long process ahead of us."

Roseboro, a director at the funeral home his family has operated for generations, called 911 around 11 p.m. on July 22, saying he had just walked out of his bedroom to the back of their house where he found the lights on and his wife at the bottom of their swimming pool.

Police responded within minutes, quickly realizing the death was a homicide.

Three days later, a woman, identified as Angela Funk, 38, contacted police and told them that she and Roseboro had been having an extramarital affair. Funk told investigators, among other things, that Roseboro told her he was planning to tell his wife that night that their marriage was over.

Police read numerous computer communications between the couple, according to court documents, "confirming an ongoing sexual relationship between the two," as well as Roseboro's e-mails to her writing, "I can't wait to make you my wife ... I can't live without you in my life."

Stedman also asked the media to give Roseboro's girlfriend privacy.

"I want to remind you, as members of the media, that she's a real person, and has admitted what some would say — what she would say — is wrong in this case," he said. "She is going through a very difficult time."


     Roseboro murder affidavit (PDF)


The Roseboros had been married for 19 years and were the parents of four children, three of whom were asleep inside the house on the night their mother was killed. The oldest son, a 17-year-old, was at a friend's house, police said.

Stedman said that although he has not yet decided whether to seek the death penalty, he believes Roseboro planned to kill his wife.

Asked whether he thought the act was premeditated, he cited the e-mails provided by the girlfriend and said: "There's evidence, provided by her, that he had a motive to kill his wife, he had an opportunity to kill his wife, and he took that opportunity."

"Mr. Roseboro was having an ongoing affair with another woman, in secrecy. He made indications he wanted to leave his wife for this other woman," Stedman said.

The district attorney did not say whether Roseboro had told his wife of the affair.

Stedman declined to say how long Roseboro had been seeing the other woman, other than to say the affair had been ongoing and that "it's been more than a couple of days."

Also in the arrest warrant affidavit, investigators discuss what appears to be the murderer's efforts to clean up after the killing.

A neighbor told police that on the night of the homicide, shortly after 10 p.m., "she looked out of her upstairs window which has a direct view of the pool area and noted that no lights were on," in or around the Roseboros' pool area.

That's unusual, police said, because the Roseboros' pool area was wired for lights to come on automatically at dusk and stay illuminated until dawn.

When police arrived at the scene, the lights were on and there was no sign of any disturbance, only a blood-stained tissue, disinfectant, a bucket and mop. 

Based on the belief that "significant clean-up efforts were made," according to the arrest warrant affidavit,  investigators believe "the murderer extinguished the outside lights so that the murder and or dumping of her body and or clean up efforts would go undetected."

Stedman declined to say whether investigators had recovered the murder weapon, or whether Roseboro talked to police after being taken into custody Saturday night.

East Cocalico Township Police Sgt. Larry Martin said the arrest "went smoothly."

Allan L. Sodomsky of Reading, who is said to be Roseboro's attorney, was in court out of town and unavailable for comment this morning.

Stedman added that he believes there are other members of the public who have information about the homicide who have not yet come forward.

"This investigation is not over. There is a long ways to go here. There is a lot of things to do. I also firmly believe there are still members of the community still out there who have information about this murder," Stedman said.

"We ask them to come forward."

According to the affidavit of probable cause, Funk told police she and Roseboro had sex between 2 and 5 p.m. on the day of Jan Roseboro's murder. Funk also told police that Michael Roseboro called her twice later in the evening, at 7 p.m. and 8:45 p.m.

During one of the conversations, Roseboro told Funk "that he was going to leave his wife so that he could be with Funk," the affidavit reads.

Funk provided to police several e-mails between her and Roseboro. In one message, dated July 15 at 8:04 a.m., a week before the murder, Roseboro wrote: "I knew from the moment we kissed I knew that I couldn't live without you ... I can't live without you in my life. I need to make you my wife, and I need to be your husband. I have never been so sure of ANYTHING in my life ..."

In another, dated July 17 at 8:53 a.m., five days before the murder, Roseboro wrote to Funk: "I dream about seeing you in your wedding dress every day ... We say our vows and profess our love to each other and then we kiss.

"It's a kiss unlike any other we've shared," the e-mail continues, " ... and I know that as beautiful as my dreams are, they will pale in comparison to the reality of us joining together as one, becoming us. I love you Angela. I can't wait to make you my wife."

On the day of the murder, Roseboro wrote in an e-mail to Funk at 7:49 a.m., "I am so deeply, madly and completely in love with you baby. I have never experienced feelings like this in all of my 41 years ... and I know the best is yet to come."

(Staff writers Ad Crable and Stephen Zook contributed to this report).


Staff writer Janet Kelleycan be reached at jkelley@LNPnews.com or 481-6026.