The Dateline Saturday Night Mystery episode “Deadly Denial” investigates the 2005 murder of Janet Abaroa. Her husband, Raven Abaroa, found his 25-year-old wife stabbed to death in their Durham, North Carolina home. Their 6-month-old son Kaiden was found unharmed in his crib. A few weeks after her death, Abaroa and Kaiden moved to Utah. In September 2008, Abaroa remarried. Abaroa’s second wife, Vanessa Pond, tells Dateline‘s Josh Mankiewicz that before they got married Abaroa told her Janet was murdered in a home invasion but didn’t provide details. Pond later testified in court that Abaroa was physically abusive with her; video below. In December 2008, just four months after getting married, the couple separated and their marriage was later annulled. In 2010, Abaroa was arrested for first-degree murder of Janet Abaroa.
In 2014, while facing a possible life sentence in prison, Abaroa entered an Alford plea which means he pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter (while maintaining his innocence). Dateline airs Saturdays at 10pm on NBC.
