From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Roger Nicholas Angleton (1942 – February 7, 1998) was the man who confessed to murdering his sister-in law Doris Angleton in her River Oaks home in Houston, Texas. On April 16, 1997, the very day Doris died, Roger missed a court date on drug-related charges.

Roger had a previous history of disobedience. He had been expelled from several schools and sent to a military academy. Roger was never as successful as his brother was, even while he was in Houston.

Roger's comical nature -- he dressed up as a rabbit at a Halloween party -- seems at odds with his crimes and with his failures relative to his younger brother Robert Nicholas Angleton. His problems started when Robert deemed Roger unfit to help him with his bookmaking scheme, and fired him. Roger shot up Robert's condominium in 1991, and sent him numerous messages attempting extortion on different occasions prior to the murder of Robert's wife Doris.

Roger Angleton was 55 years old at the time of the murder. The Texas prosecutor charged that the murder fulfilled a contract between Roger and Robert, intended to prevent exposure of Robert's illegal bookmaking. That lesser crime was exposed anyway, but Robert was acquitted of killing Doris in the state trial, but had been arrested for similar charges by the United States Department of Justice.

Roger Angleton committed suicide in a Houston prison cell on February 7, 1998. Suicide was performed either by cutting himself fifty times with several razor blades [1] or by hanging [2].

He admitted, in his suicide note, to killing Doris as part of an extortion plot. He may or may not have lied about Robert's role.

• Death in Texas by Carlton Smith