Share and Follow
On the morning of December 10, 1994, investigators entered a hotel room in Detroit, uncovering a scene that initially seemed like a heartbreaking overdose involving Roberta “Bobbe” Amos. She was found lifeless in bed after a night of revelry.
However, as detectives delved deeper into the case, they discovered that Bobbe’s husband, Lowell “Ed” Amos, had a history of wives dying under suspicious circumstances. This revelation prompted a reevaluation of Bobbe’s demise, revealing a sinister killer with a dark history, as explored in a November 29 episode of Oxygen’s Accident, Suicide, or Murder.
Authorities were summoned to the Atheneum Hotel in Detroit, Michigan shortly after 10 a.m. on that fateful day, where they found Bobbe unresponsive in bed.
Detective Michael Williams of the Anderson Police Department observed, “There were no gunshot wounds, stab wounds, or signs of blunt force trauma—nothing immediately indicating the cause of death.”
One peculiar detail stood out: a large wet spot on the bed’s bottom sheet, raising further questions.
The only unusual clue was a large, wet spot on the bottom sheet of the bed.
“It was soaked,” Williams said. “It appeared that there was a lot of water that had somehow gotten under her body with no real explanation to it.”
Her husband Ed told detectives that the couple—who lived in Anderson, Indiana—were in town for a Christmas party that he was throwing for the employees of his Detroit-based company. According to Ed and other witness accounts, they were partying late into the night before they returned to their room around 4 a.m.
When Ed woke up later that morning, he told police he found Bobbe dead and quickly phoned the hotel’s front desk for help.
“He seemed kind of cold,” retired Detroit Detective Patrick Henahan said. “Not a tear, nothing, but that can be normal in these circumstances.”
Ed also claimed that Bobbe had brought cocaine from Indiana and told detectives they had both used the drug in their hotel room that night.
Bobbe Amos’ Autopsy Reveals Unusual Clue
It appeared as though it may have been a tragic overdose, until detectives spoke with Bobbe’s family. They insisted that Bobbe—who they described as beautiful and kind—never did drugs.
A medical examiner also found no traces of cocaine in Bobbe’s nasal passage, but, strangely, did find cocaine residue in her vaginal cavity.
When analyzing photos taken during the party, detectives noticed one of a known drug dealer. The man, who was already in custody on another drug charge, told detectives that he was there that night to sell cocaine to Ed, not Bobbe.
Detectives Learn Ed Amos Has Two Other Dead Wives
Detectives’ suspicions around Ed and his story grew when they learned that his two previous wives also died under mysterious circumstances.
His first wife Saundra Amos died on January 24, 1979, 15 years into their marriage. The teacher was found on the floor of her bathroom with a wound to her head. At the time, Ed told authorities his wife fell and struck her head.
“Ed’s basic statement was that his wife had been out drinking, and then when she came home, she had wine with Ed,” Henahan explained. “She went upstairs to get ready for bed, and a little while later, he hears a thunk. He says he thought it was the dog jumping off the bed, so he didn’t go up immediately, but when he did go up, he found her unresponsive.”
The medical examiner found alcohol in her system, and since there was no reason to question Ed’s story, the death was ruled accidental.
The next year, Ed married his second wife Carolyn Amos, a woman some believed he began dating while still married to Saundra.
The couple were married for nine years until Carolyn was found dead on the floor of the couple’s home on April 6, 1989.
Once again, Ed presented an eerily similar story, telling authorities that his wife had been drinking wine before she went upstairs.
“Ed told a responding officer she went upstairs to get ready for bed,” Henahan recounted. “And he said, ‘I heard a thunk on the floor up there. I thought it was the dog jumping off the bed.’”
Yet, when he went upstairs he found Carolyn unresponsive. A coroner was unable to find any conclusive evidence to show how she died and her cause of death was ruled “undetermined.” Although Ed was considered a suspect at the time, there was never enough evidence to move forward with an arrest.
A few months before Carolyn’s death, Ed’s mother also died while he had been living with her. No specific cause of death was ever determined, but detectives began to wonder if all the deaths could be connected.
“You’ve got to wonder whether you are actually dealing with a serial killer,” Williams said, “or somebody that is just unbelievably unlucky.”
Investigators Find Possible Motives in Bobbe Amos Case
In all three earlier deaths, Ed collected large life insurance settlements. While he didn’t stand to gain from a life insurance policy in Bobbe’s death, detectives learned that she was planning to divorce him, which would mean she could walk away with half of his money and business.
Detectives also learned that just days before Bobbe’s death, she’d been contacted by Mary Zellinger, a woman in Detroit who had been having a years-long affair with Ed.
Mary told Accident, Suicide, or Murder that when they met, Ed claimed that he was a widow.
“It was a casual, very fun relationship,” she said. “And that then continued for a few years.”
But the relationship shifted when Mary began to suspect that Ed may have drugged her after she became violently ill following a meal together.
“I was in so much pain,” she remembered, “and I just wanted to die.”
Although her doctor was never able to find anything in her blood work, her suspicions about the relationship were raised. Then, in the fall of 1994, she discovered Ed was married. Ten days before Bobbe’s death, Mary called her to warn her.
“I said, ‘You need to be very afraid. I think you’re in danger,’” she remembered. “I felt like I was trying to help her, but I knew she wasn’t going to trust me or believe me.”
Bobby Amos’ Toxicology Report Proves She Was Murdered
The final pieces of the puzzle came together after investigators received Bobbe’s toxicology report. It showed her blood cocaine level was 5.7, a figure 15 times greater than a lethal dose. According to the medical examiner, it would have been impossible for Bobbe to administer that amount of cocaine herself because she would have passed out before she could consume it all.
Detectives also spoke with one of Ed’s male coworkers who said Ed called him to the hotel room the morning of Bobbe’s death and asked him to take a toiletry bag, carrying a syringe and stained washcloth, away from the hotel. Ed later retrieved the bag and it was never recovered.
Investigators concluded that Ed killed his wife by drugging her drink, then injecting her vaginally with a fatal dose of cocaine mixed with water.
“He was diabolical,” Ken De La Bastide, a reporter with The Herald Bulletin, said. “He knew exactly what he was going to do, and he thought that he would get away with it again.”
Ed was arrested for first-degree murder in November of 1995. The following year, he was convicted of killing Bobbe and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
He died in prison on Jan. 22, 2022.
“He thought he was smarter than everyone else and probably he laughed at us that we trusted or believed in him,” Mary said. “They walk among us, these perverted people, they will sweep you off your feet. They are charming and they could be the one that will take your life.”
