Strauch Family History & Genealogy

Dorothy Marie Robards was born to Steven and Beth Robards. She went by the name "Marie", and was an only child. Dorothy Robards married Karl Strauch in Texas City, Texas in August of 2005. Marie was 29 at the time, and was out of jail after serving seven years of the twenty-seven years she had been sentenced. When Dorothy was 19, it was reported in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (January 27, 1995) that she was arrested for the murder of her father, Steven Robards, who was a letter carrier in Colleyville. He was 38 at the time of his death. It is alleged that he was bi-polar (it was described as "manic-depressive" back then) and Dorothy said that he abused her. His girlfriend at the time, Sandra Hudgins, disputed this and said that he was a loving father. See a photo of Dorothy Marie at 16, in a high school photo: Dorothy "Marie" Robards. Before Dorothy confessed to the murder, her father's death was thought to be from natural causes. See his obituary at Steven A. Robards Obituary. The truth came out when Dorothy told her friend Stacey High about her murdering her father during an emotional moment as the teenagers were reading about Shakespeare's Hamlet in class. Stacey struggled with what to do with the information - she told her mother right away, but took a few days to tell the police. This impacted Stacey's life significantly as told in this 1998 article Court observer recalls struggle with dark secret. When Dorothy was arrested, she told the police that she obtained barium acetate from her high school chemistry class because her teacher had shared with the class that it was poisonous. On February 18, 1993, she put some of the poison in her father's dinner (refried beans) and a few hours later, he sickened and died. She said that she only intended to make him ill. Dorothy's parents had divorced in 1980, and her mother had requested that Dorothy live with her father, although she had also frequently lived with her grandparents. She was a student at the University of Texas at Austin at the time of her arrest, but she returned to Granbury TX to live with her mother (Beth Burroughs) and stepfather (Frank Burroughs, a Hood County Sherriff's deputy) while she was under juvenile custody. Her father Steven had died when she was only 16, but she was later tried as an adult, and not a juvenile. On May 10, 1996, it was reported in The Monitor that Dorothy was found guilty of murdering her father by poisoning his food. The jury had deliberated about 50 minutes (another paper reported deliberations as taking 2 hours). She received a 28 yr sentence at the conviction hearing, and the sentence was upheld on appeal in 1998. She was also fined $10,000, which came out of her $67,000 inheritance from her father. She was eligible for parole in 2003. Dorothy had planned on becoming a coroner as an adult and had worked at TGIF's as a waitress, appearing in a commercial for them until they found out that she was on trial. To read about Dorothy's background and life until 2019 see Marie Robards: Deadly Daughter. Other sources of information: The crime was fictionalized in Megan Abbott's 2018 novel Give Me Your Hand, and covered in episodes of Forensic Files (Season 6, episode 5 (2001)), Redrum (Season 2, episode 17 (2014)), and Deadly Women (Season 6, episode 2 (2012)).

Willie Strauch was born on January 24, 1928 at 157 OLIVER #1 - NORTH UNION, in UNIONTOWN, FAYETTE County, Pennsylvania USA, and died at age 73 years old on June 6, 2001 in Mount Clemens, Macomb County, Michigan United States. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember William Francis "Willie" Strauch.

Robert J Strauch of Washburn, Marshall County, IL was born on September 28, 1918, and died at age 74 years old on December 5, 1992.

Fritz Strauch of Muncie, Delaware County, IN was born on May 30, 1911 in Danzig or Germany, and died at age 90 years old on January 3, 2002.

William E Strauch of Frankfort, Will County, IL was born on November 21, 1915, and died at age 93 years old on October 1, 2009.

William F Strauch of Grosse Pointe, Wayne County, MI was born on January 24, 1928, and died at age 73 years old on June 6, 2001.

William P Strauch Jr of Sound Beach, Suffolk County, NY was born on January 1, 1924, and died at age 77 years old on April 12, 2001. William Strauch was buried at Long Island National Cemetery Section D Site 1219A 2040 Wellwood Avenue, in Farmingdale.

William H Strauch of Cressona, Schuylkill County, PA was born on December 4, 1916, and died at age 82 years old on January 22, 1999.

Calvin H Strauch of Mansfield, Richland County, OH was born on April 21, 1920, and died at age 73 years old on November 15, 1993.

Thomas A Strauch of San Antonio, Bexar County, TX was born on August 19, 1916, and died at age 85 years old on March 15, 2002. Thomas Strauch was buried at Ft. Sam Houston National Cemetery Section 3 Site 813 1520 Harry Wurzbach Road, in San Antonio.

Charles E Strauch of Saint Elmo, Fayette County, Illinois was born on September 15, 1918, and died at age 67 years old in September 1985.

Charles J Strauch of South Bend, St Joseph County, IN was born on July 1, 1922, and died at age 79 years old on December 2, 2001.

Edmund H Strauch of Scranton, Lackawanna County, PA was born on August 27, 1927, and died at age 78 years old on November 27, 2005.

Alexander Strauch of Iselin, Middlesex County, NJ was born on November 22, 1912, and died at age 94 years old on April 1, 2007.

Steve Strauch of Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, OH was born on April 9, 1909, and died at age 80 years old on October 30, 1989.

Frank Jr Strauch of Allentown, Lehigh County, PA was born on September 14, 1916, and died at age 94 years old on September 17, 2010.

Edward Strauch of Allentown, Lehigh County, PA was born on March 22, 1919, and died at age 65 years old in March 1984.

Annie Strauch of Berkeley, Alameda County, California was born on February 19, 1903 in Russia or Union Of Socialist Soviet Republics, and died at age 77 years old in July 1980.

Paul E Strauch of Toluca, Marshall County, IL was born on January 6, 1922, and died at age 66 years old on March 21, 1988.

James F Strauch of Farmington, Oakland County, MI was born on January 3, 1919, and died at age 85 years old on May 15, 2004.