They Protect Him To This Very Day

The Gibbs family is interred in the Hillcrest Cemetery on Delsea Drive just outside Pitman, New Jersey.

I need to thank a very dear person for helping me with the information from the cemetery itself. I owe you much more than a debt of gratitude and I can only hope that my efforts in this project serve you well in the way that they need to.

For several years, Ed Gibbs' grave was unmarked.

We now know, as of this week, that that isn't the case any longer.

His grave is clearly marked in the family plot.

Ed is buried between his mother and father.

J. Lester Gibbs died in 1964. He wasn't a well man during his son's murder trial and collapsed several times and had a heart attack early on in the proceedings.

Mrs. Florence Gibbs died in 1993.

She placed her son next to his father and then upon her passing, next to her also.

The symbolism there is screaming.

They are flanking him in death as they did in life.

It was told to me that the position of the resting places speaks volumes as to the mindset of the Gibbs parents.

It's only natural that no parent could imagine or believe that their child could have done to Marian Baker what Ed Gibbs did to her.

He confessed and gave the world the details. Not all of them were revealed. The very worst weren't necessary for the success of the trial on the Prosecution's side and they surely weren't going to be revealed by the Defense.

But most parents would somehow, someday, come to grips with the truth and have to admit to themselves that their child was a murderer. They would still love the child, but the truth would become a very dark but tangible part of their reality.

Marian's aunt and uncle, the O'Donels, were faith-filled Christian people. They found peace and forgiveness for the Gibbs family through Christ. They wrote to the Gibbs' several times telling them of their Christian compassion and forgiveness, clearly telling them that they held nothing against the Gibbs parents for what Ed had done.

Not one response ever came back.

The O'Donels were surprised and puzzled.

Now, it seems a bit clearer.

J. Lester died in 1964. Florence lived the rest of her days never truly believing that her Eddie had killed Marian Baker. Her psychological timbre was so fragile that she removed anything to do with the crime, trial and execution from her reality.

Her behavior and demeanor at her son's services is macabre but telling.

Florence Gibbs could finally, for the first time in her life since the birth of her baby boy, Eddie, relax.

She now knew and would know for all time, where he was, if he was safe and what he was doing.

He was "home".

Florence mothered Ed "in a box" for as long as she could while he was alive.

It wasn't easy. And she was a walking nervous wreck.

But now, Eddie was in the big box and he couldn't get hurt, he couldn't fail, he couldn't put a dark mark on the family name and he couldn't challenge the desires and decisions of the family anymore.

Eddie didn't kill Marian. But Eddie passed away.

So Florence made potato salad and hosted the mourners and went on with her life.

And when her husband died, he took his place at the side of Eddie, and she would flank him years down the road.

I almost feel  a sense of defiance in Florence Gibbs.
It would have hurt many mothers to ignore a letter from the O'Donel family. They reached out in Christian love and compassion.

I truly wonder if Florence kept the letters. I would love to know if they were part of her personal effects when she died.

Or if they were thrown in the trash as Florence hummed to quiet the voices in her head.

The Player or The Played? For real.

I posted a while back on a different site an op ed piece entitled, "The Mistress of the Game".
I've been doing a bit more research, much as I can until records are available, unsealed and completed by the upcoming trial. And what strikes me as more and more evident, is that Angela Funk orchestrated the chain of events that led to the brutal death of Jan Roseboro.

I was told by witnesses to Angie's behavior that she has always been flirtatious. The initial attention of any man was welcomed easily. Only later would she learn more about the strangers that gave her a second glance. If they seemed "a good catch" she would allow more attention and return it in kind. Others she knew about prior to the flirtations. If they passed muster, she was "in" for the run.
I asked about the married men that she had slept with in the past. In most cases, women are known to pursue married men because those men seem "safe". They are already married, legally and emotionally entwined to another woman. The mistress can have her fun and then walk away. No commitment, no ties, no washing dirty socks on Saturday for the guy.
But that's not the case with Angela Funk. She didn't pursue married men because they were "safe". She pursued them because they were "established". Most if not all had homes of their own, a steady job and some money in the bank. There would be none of that tiresome waiting for the guy to build up a bank account, qualify for a mortgage, get a raise, become financially solvent.
It was a ready-made deal.
Angela Funk has been on the career track.... but in her bedroom, not the boardroom.
She climbs the ladder....to the next mattress. Or funeral home office, as was the case until the horrible murder of 2008.
When Michael Roseboro approached Angela Funk about getting together she had a choice. Most married women don't accept invitations from men other than their husband. They may be flattered, they may feel a boost to their self-esteem that another man has found them attractive, but they don't take the man up on the offer.
Angela Funk did. And a whole lot more.
While they were having their first lunch date, Randy was working. Earning money to feed his girls and his wife. And to pay the bills.
While they were having lunch, Jan was being a Mom and a great member of the community. She was being Jan. Providing a happy home for her children and her husband.
Had Angela Funk had the character and morals to say no, Jan Roseboro would be alive today.
Yes, Mike would have chosen another chippy. But I don't think he'd have found one quite as cunning and devious as Angela Funk.
Angela smelled money. And prestige. She had plans.
Angela Funk was planning to leave Randy, sue him for divorce (or talk him into suing her and paying all costs) as well as filing for an exhorbitant amount of child support for the girls.
She would convince Mike Roseboro to leave Jan sooner rather than later. And she'd make sure that Mike didn't lose his money or his interest in the business because of it. Only seven weeks into the affair, Angela had already pointed out to Mike that Jan would clean him out if she found out about them.....
And only seven weeks into the affair, Angela Funk got her hands on the ticket out of her current station in life. Angela Funk made sure to maximize her chances of getting pregnant.
A baby on the way would be all she needed to put the push on Mike to leave Jan now.

The pregnancy was not an accident.
Mike was clearly in love with Angie, but as of July 22, 2o08 no real date had been set for telling the spouses about the ends of the marriages. Unbelievably, Mike and Angie had looked at wedding dresses, but the hard cold facts about getting attorneys and planning every-other-weekend child visits hadn't been settled.
That wasn't enough for Angela Funk. She considered herself lucky enough to have gotten the attention and infatuation of a "good catch" in Roseboro, in her eyes. And she wasn't about to lose her grip on him. Angela is a cheater. She knows how cheaters operate. She knows how short their attention span can be. She's cheated for years, on many people.
She knew in her gut that if things didn't move along, Mike would soon spot a younger, prettier, hotter woman. And Angela's plans to move up the ladder would be over.
None of us know right now just how Mike felt about Angela Funk. His emails, sappy and icky as they are, may be the truth of how he felt. We know he was sleeping with Angie often. From that we can only surmise he liked the sex.
But Mike has been a runner most of his adult life. He's been with women far prettier than Angela Funk. Women far more educated, far more interesting and far better off. Some wonder if those emails were just Mike...being Mike. Telling Angela what he thought he needed to tell her to keep her available and willing. She wouldn't be the first woman he's lied to repeatedly.
But in either case, no plans were set in concrete. The leaving of the spouses was still a nebulous concept.
Until July 22nd.
Angie and Mike had sex that day in her family's apartments in Mount Joy while her mother-in-law cared for her girls.
Phone calls were made between Mike and Angela several times after that tryst in Mount Joy.
On the evening of July 22nd, they spoke on the phone.
And Jan Roseboro died.
The phone calls are not insignificant! Angela said something that night that started a chain of events that left Jan Roseboro dead in her own pool.
Did she tell Mike she was pregnant? Did she know she was? Did she not know and lie anyway?
Did she threaten him? Threaten to stop seeing him, giving him an ultimatum?
Or did Mike balk at telling Jan anything? Did he plan to use Angela for fun, as he had other women? And if he balked, did Angela Funk decide no one was going to interfere with her plans?
Did she go to the Roseboro home that night?
Did she attack Jan? Or at least help clean up the scene?
It is entirely possible that Mike Roseboro met up with the player of all time. Angela may have played him into a corner he couldn't hope to get out of any other way than killing Jan. Or at least helping clean up the scene after a horrible attack from Angela.

If Jan Roseboro was killed by a random person, what are the odds?
I would say then that Mike Roseboro has the worst luck on the planet?

Could it be possible that Mike did not kill Jan?
Yes.
Is it possible that Jan was killed in a case of mistaken identity?
Yes.
It is all possible. At this point, not probable, but yes it's possible.

But in keeping with the odds, Angela Funk orchestrated the dance that destroyed lives all around her. The only life not destroyed is her own. With no morals, she can't feel the pain of all she has already lost.
She wears her illegitimate pregnancy like a badge of honor. She is deluded.
The other victims here are the children.
For what Angela Funk has done to all of them, the unborn, included, she needs to be held accountable.
I'd be terribly interested in finding out if there is a civil recourse that can be taken against her.
In the civil arena, she wouldn't need to defend to a reasonable doubt. Just a preponderance of the evidence.
Could her actions have led to the death of Jan Roseboro to a preponderance of the evidence?
I do think so.
And the only thing Angela Funk hates losing more than another woman's husband, is money.