Welcome to the very first episode of Southern Macabre. I am your host; Aeryn and I am so glad you tuned in today! Southern Macabre is a podcast about true crime, missing persons, and paranormal stories in the south. Being a Southern gal in Alabama I have noticed that you rarely hear or see these stories from this region and many cases go unseen and unsolved. I want to change that by bringing these stories to your attention.
Today’s story is a solved case from my hometown and it’s what got me interested in true crime. You see, I grew up near Fredericksburg, Virginia in the nineties. If you lived there then you probably remember Sofia Silva and Kristin and Kati Lisk. If not, then listen up cause I’m going to tell you all about them.
So that you understand the area I’m talking about, I’ll describe them to you. Fredericksburg is located in Spotsylvania County which is 412 square miles. It is known for the Civil War battles that took place there and the battlefields and a hospital still remain along with the infamous Sunken Road.
The “town” of Spotsylvania is where the courthouse is located along with schools and a few small businesses. Downtown Fredericksburg, located in Spotsylvania County, is filled with businesses that have been open for fifty to one hundred years, antique stores, and a few local businesses that have sprung up in recent years.
The other side of Fredericksburg has a mall that was built in the 1970s and the first Walmart in the area. There was also a Kmart, Giant foods, some law offices, churches, a small college, a community college, and restaurants scattered around town. Once you got out of town there were miles and miles of farmland as well as the four battlefields.
On September 9, 1996 Sofia went inside her home near Spotsylvania Courthouse, where her older sister was. She talked to a friend on the phone for about thirty minutes. They considered attending the first football game of the season that evening, but decided to skip it. After hanging up, Sofia grabbed a soda and headed outside to do her homework. It was a beautiful sunny day and she didn’t want to be cooped up inside. Her sister didn’t see or hear anything when a man stopped and got Sofia in his car. When she went outside to check on her sister, all she found was an open can of grape soda and Sofia’s class notes.
Despite being in a neighborhood where the houses were relatively close together, her neighbors didn’t notice anything suspicious. Police searched nearby Loriella Park and a pond behind her house, but didn’t see any signs of her.
Her body was found five weeks later by men removing a beaver dam about twenty miles from her home in King George, Virginia. Her body was wrapped in a blue moving blanket, bound with rope, and partially submerged in a creek. King George is across the bridge from Downtown Fredericksburg.
An FBI profiler estimated that they were dealing with a pedophile who would likely do this again. Police began questioning locals and several people told them about Karl Michael Roush. Neighbors had seen him sitting in his van watching children getting on and off their school buses. He lived in a basement apartment a few houses down from Sofia and her family. When police talked to his employer they found rope, similar to what had been used on Sofia. His employer also told police that several blue moving blankets they used for work were missing.
Mr. Roush moved to Florida soon after Sofia went missing to start his own business. He returned to Spotsylvania as soon as his ex-wife informed him that police wanted to speak with him.
He was arrested, but maintained his innocence while he awaited trial. Meanwhile, the state crime lab in Richmond, Virginia matched carpet fibers from his van to the ones on Sofia’s body.
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