Jennifer Rothwell was delighted about their baby, but her cheating husband felt differently behind the scenes, before eventually carrying out the most unimaginable brutal act
After trying unsuccessfully for a baby with husband Beau for several months, a concerned Jennifer Rothwell was eventually diagnosed with endometriosis. But although she worried that her dream of having children could now be in jeopardy, a determined Jennifer, 28, refused to give up.
It was late 2018 and the couple had been married for almost four years. They both had an engineering background and met as lab partners at the University of Missouri. They’d settled in St Louis, Missouri, where Beau worked as a project manager and Jennifer as a chemical engineer.
But she really longed to start her own family. In the following months the couple continued to try to conceive. Rothwell would later say it took the “spark” out of their marriage as they tracked fertility cycles and took temperatures. Sex had started to feel like a chore.
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Then, in September 2019, Jennifer was delighted to discover she was pregnant. She started planning the nursery, discussing names and organising a pregnancy calendar so they could track the size of the baby. But on 12 November, when she was about six weeks pregnant, Beau reported his wife as missing.
He said she’d left for work that morning and he hadn’t heard from her since. Her car was found abandoned a few miles away. She had disappeared during a snowstorm and there were fears for her safety. Rothwell sent messages to his wife’s mobile, distributed “missing” leaflets and joined relatives and colleagues in the search for her. He also pleaded for help on social media.
But within 24 hours, he was a prime suspect in her disappearance. Investigators found a bleach-soaked, bloodstained carpet in their home that somebody had clearly attempted to clean. And as police continued to unearth more evidence, Rothwell was charged with his wife’s murder.
‘PROS AND CONS’ LIST
It transpired that while Jennifer was focused on trying for a baby, in a notebook at his place of work he had been listing the “pros and cons” of leaving her. On the “plus side” of ending his marriage he had included “nicer, better sex life, more respect, fresh start”. Among the negative aspects were “half my assets/money, my family disappointment, have to move”. He had also started an affair with an unidentified woman.
When Jennifer announced she was pregnant, he messaged his lover outlining three options about how he was going to approach the issue. He was either going to break up with his mistress, get a divorce or hope for a “miscarriage or something” so the two could stay together. Could that “something” have been the death of his wife?
It was clear that Jennifer had sensed Rothwell wasn’t excited about the baby, because she’d made a sorrowful internet search on her phone, typing in “what to do if your husband is upset you are pregnant”.
When questioned by police, Rothwell admitted he’d killed his wife when she confronted him about his affair. He led them to where he’d dumped her body.
On 18 November 2019, Jennifer’s naked corpse was found about 45 miles north-west of her home in a wooded area, about 20 yards off a highway. She’d been beaten over the head with a heavy object and was hidden under heavy brush and shrub with a plastic bag duct-taped over her head.
Her family was devastated by her loss – and that of her unborn child.
While Rothwell didn’t deny killing his wife, he insisted he’d acted in a “red haze” of anger and that the conviction should be manslaughter. But at his trial he was found guilty of first-degree murder.
The prosecution argued that the killing had been meticulously planned and told a St Louis court about the messages Rothwell had sent to his mistress and the list he had made, which clearly showed his desire to end his marriage. The night before Jennifer was reported missing, Rothwell had been caught on camera buying cleaning products.
Rothwell told the court of a heated argument between himself and his wife on 11 November 2019 after he’d confessed to the affair. When he refused to name his mistress, he claimed Jennifer had told him to keep his “mystery bitch” and suggested the baby wasn’t his. A paternity test after her death confirmed it was and there was no evidence that she had been unfaithful.
Rothwell said he struck Jennifer on the back of the head with a mallet and she had stumbled, dazed, into the garage. He followed and continued to attack her.
“In the heat of everything, I hit her again,” he told the court. “I believe I cracked her skull. She fell unconscious and fell down the stairs.”
The defence said the injuries were made worse by the fall. Rothwell went on to describe how he’d tried to cover up the killing by cleaning the house with bleach and driving Jennifer’s car away and abandoning it. He also used her phone to dial his own to make it appear she’d had car trouble on her way to work.
He said he’d stripped her body, as he’d seen in TV crime shows, before loading her into his car on a tarpaulin. Then he dumped her body and disposed of the cleaning products and the tarpaulin in a public bin.
ACCUSED OF AMBUSH
While he claimed he’d acted in “panic mode”, the prosecution argued Rothwell’s actions had in fact been calculated and he had ambushed his wife in their home after months of trying to get out of his marriage.
The medical examiner suggested that Rothwell had attacked his wife with something sturdier than a mallet, such as a baseball bat, and it had been swung with such force that it exposed her brain. Rothwell claimed that Jennifer had suffered further injuries by falling down the stairs. But her blood was found only at the bottom of the steps.
In April this year, Rothwell, 31, was convicted of murdering his wife and three months later was sentenced to life imprisonment with no chance of parole. He was also given four years for tampering with evidence and four more for abandonment of a corpse. His lawyers say he plans to appeal.
At his trial, Rothwell said he thinks about his wife every day, adding, “To Jennifer’s family, words cannot describe how sorry I am. This should have never happened.”
Jennifer’s mother Robin von Hausen addressed the court over a video link and spoke emotionally about all the moments her daughter would miss. She said, “Jennifer was a bright light in our lives. We thought we would have more than 28 years with heru0085 Jennifer will never know the joy of holding her child in her arms. Instead, she walked her through heaven’s gates.”
Once pregnant, the sands of time started running out for Jennifer. She may have hoped to spend her life with Rothwell, but he had no vision of a future with his wife in it.