Bio

Robert Gary Girts was born on June 24, 1953, and was originally from Poland Township, Ohio. He worked as a funeral director and embalmer in Parma and had previous experience with the Lorain County Coroner’s Office. His work gave him knowledge of autopsies, unexplained deaths, and chemical terminology.

Girts also served in the United States Army Reserve. In 1992, he asked a commanding officer who worked as a chemist to obtain potassium cyanide, claiming that he needed it to kill groundhogs near the funeral home. She later mailed approximately two grams of cyanide to him and contacted investigators after learning that his wife, Diane, had died from cyanide poisoning.

Diane was Girts’ third wife. His first wife had died young, but her death was not ruled a homicide, and Girts was never charged in connection with it. His second marriage ended in divorce. Allegations were also later raised involving his fourth wife, but no charges were filed and no court found that he had harmed her.

Prosecutors presented evidence that Girts was involved in an extramarital relationship before Diane’s death and falsely told the woman that he was divorcing Diane. They also argued that financial gain was a motive. After Diane died, Girts received more than $50,000 in life-insurance proceeds, part of which was connected to a house purchase and a proposed investment in another funeral home.

Murder Story

In the spring of 1992, Robert Girts asked an Army Reserve commanding officer who worked as a chemist to obtain potassium cyanide for him. He claimed that he needed it to kill groundhogs near the funeral home where he worked. She later mailed approximately two grams of the poison to him. Investigators found no evidence of a groundhog problem, and Girts eventually admitted that he placed the cyanide in his wife Diane’s salt shaker before leaving for Chicago, knowing she regularly used it.

On September 2, 1992, Diane Girts failed to report for work. A funeral-home employee entered the adjoining residence and found her dead in the bathtub. There were no obvious signs of violence, and the first autopsy did not establish a cause of death. Further toxicology testing later detected approximately twice the minimum lethal concentration of cyanide, and the Cuyahoga County coroner classified her death as a homicide.
Girts initially suggested that Diane had taken her own life and produced an undated note in which she expressed unhappiness. Her friends, however, told investigators that she had appeared to be in good spirits and was looking forward to moving into a recently purchased home. Police also learned that Girts had received more than $50,000 from Diane’s life-insurance policies and had been involved in an extramarital relationship.

The investigation changed in January 1993 when Girts’ Army Reserve officer informed police that she had supplied him with cyanide. His explanation that it had been used against groundhogs was contradicted by witnesses. Investigators also gathered evidence concerning his knowledge of measuring chemicals, his changing explanations for Diane’s death, and his previous work with the Lorain County Coroner’s Office.

Girts was arrested and indicted for aggravated murder on February 9, 1993. He was convicted on June 3, 1993, and sentenced to life imprisonment with no possibility of parole for 20 years. The conviction was reversed on July 28, 1994, after an appellate court ruled that the prosecution had improperly questioned him about an alleged jailhouse confession. He was tried again and convicted of aggravated murder on August 9, 1995, receiving another sentence of 20 years to life.

In 2007, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit overturned the second conviction. The court found that the prosecutor had improperly commented on Girts’ decision not to testify and ordered Ohio to retry or release him. When the state failed to complete a new trial within the required period, Girts was released while the case remained pending.

On January 31, 2014, Girts pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and insurance fraud and admitted that he had deliberately placed cyanide in Diane’s salt shaker. That plea and sentence were later vacated because the court had applied an unlawful sentencing structure. On December 18, 2015, he again pleaded guilty to the same charges and received a total sentence of 12 years. Because he had already spent approximately 18 years in custody, he was released that day and placed under five years of post-release supervision. His two aggravated-murder convictions remain overturned, while his final convictions are involuntary manslaughter and insurance fraud.