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Transcript: The Robinson and Roommate Messages

Screenshot of a typed transcript formatted as a chat log alternating between speakers labeled Robinson and Roommate, beginning with the roommate reacting to a note and continuing through statements about being stuck in Orem, retrieving a rifle from a drop point, changing outfits and worrying about fingerprints

What This Image Shows​

This is the transcript at the center of the state's public case, laid out as an alternating chat log between a speaker labeled Robinson and one labeled Roommate. It opens with a narrative line stating that after reading the note, the roommate responded, followed by a disbelieving reply asking whether it is a joke.

The passages that follow are the most-quoted text in the case. The Robinson entries read that he is still all right but stuck in Orem for a little while longer, that he has to grab his rifle still, that he had hoped to keep this secret until he died of old age and is sorry to involve the roommate. Asked directly whether he was the one who did it, the reply is an admission and an apology. Asked whether the person had been caught, the reply states that they grabbed some crazy old dude and then interrogated someone in similar clothing, and that most of that side of town got locked down. Asked why, the answer given is that he had had enough of his hatred and that some hate cannot be negotiated out. Asked how long it had been planned, the answer is a bit over a week. Later entries describe a squad car parked near the drop point, a rifle left in a bush where he changed outfits, uncertainty about a serial number, and worry about fingerprints and about explaining the loss of a grandfather's rifle.

Those passages are also where the objections concentrate. Commentators quoted in the investigation record point out that the writer worries about leaving evidence while producing a long written record, apologizes for involving the roommate while involving him, and says he wanted to take the secret to his grave shortly before an alleged public confession. Every word here reached the public as a photograph of a transcript rather than as a produced extraction, and prosecutors stated in a filing that they did not intend to offer evidence obtained through forensic extractions of the seized electronics. Against that, the extraction of Lance Twiggs' phone was confirmed in open court, the defense holds the full data, and it is not publicly alleging fabrication. Read Discord Messages, Twiggs Phone, Cellebrite and Letter.

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