Robert Fratta execution: Cop-turned-killer scheduled to die tonight for 1994 murder of wife
The Missouri City cop paid $1,000 to have Farah Fratta killed because of a messy divorce, bitter child custody battle and money from a life insurance policy.
An ex-Missouri City cop who paid a teenage hitman to murder his estranged wife in 1994 is scheduled to be executed tonight, more than 28 years later.
During two capital murder trials, prosecutors said Robert Fratta gave the 18-year-old triggerman $1,000 to kill Farah Fratta, the mother of his three children.
The video above originally aired on Nov. 10, 1994, the day after Farah Fratta was murdered.
Prosecutors painted Robert Fratta as a sexual deviant who was motivated by a messy divorce, a bitter custody battle and money from an insurance policy.
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NOW ON KHOU 11+: Hear the 911 call from a neighbor the night Farah Fratta was killed and see the police interrogation video of Robert Fratta the following day. Get KHOU 11+ for free on Roku and FireTV
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In 1996, it took jurors less than an hour to convict Fratta and they sentenced him to death. He showed no emotion but family members from both sides wept.
After the trial, Farah's father, Lex Baquer, said it had been especially hard on the couple's children.
"The young girl, she still asks for her mother. 'Mommy, I love you, Mommy. I miss you, Mommy,'" Lex said. "'I know you're in heaven, and someday when I die, I will meet you in heaven.'"
"I cannot wait for the day when I see him laying on that table, waiting to get the injection. That will be justice for me," Farah's mom, Betty Baquer, said after the first trial.
Justice would be a long time coming for Farah Fratta's loved ones. Thirteen years after she was killed, her husband's conviction was overturned because of inadmissible evidence.
During a 2009 retrial, the couple's children -- who were then young adults -- testified against their father, and Fratta was convicted and sentenced to death again.
Now 65, after 26 years on death row, a judge finally scheduled his execution date. On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a request to stop the execution.
Some family members will be in Huntsville to finally see justice, but it came too late for Farah Fratta's father, who died in 2018. KHOU 11 reporter Grace White will also be there as a media witness and will have a live update at 10 p.m.
WARNING: Contains graphic content and language
Chapter 1 The murder of Farah Fratta
On Nov. 9, 1994, Farah Fratta returned to her Atascocita home after getting her hair cut. The 33-year-old had no idea that a shooter was hiding in the backyard. Waiting.
Neighbors across the street heard the first gunshot.
"We heard something outside like a pop, and I got up to look out the window and as I was doing that we heard a scream and I saw Farah fall…and then we heard another shot," Laura Hoelscher told "48 Hours Mystery" correspondent Richard Schlesinger in 2010.
She and her husband, Darin, saw Farah Fratta laying by her car and called for help.
"It was at that time when we realized she wasn't getting up; we dialed 911," Hoelscher said. "I just started giving them a play-by-play of what we were seeing."
While she was on the phone with the dispatcher, Hoelscher saw a man hiding behind a tree.
"There's someone over there!" Hoelscher said. "There's a black gentleman in a black shirt and black pants. A lady is down in her garage. She's been shot two times, two shots. Oh my God."
Chapter 2 'It hurt so much'
The night Farah Fratta was killed, the children -- Bradley, 7, Daniel, 6, and Amber, 4 -- were with Fratta for his weekly Wednesday night visitation. He usually took them to dinner, but that night he took them to church. Prosecutors said it was all part of his evil plan.
"How many people use church as their alibi and use their own children as their alibi? Who does that?" prosecutor Kelly Siegler told "48 Hours Mystery."
Bradley remembers his father taking them home after church that night.
"The first thing I remember was just all the yellow tape everywhere," Bradley told "48 Hours." "I just remember arriving there and my dad acting very surprised as to what was going on."
Farah Fratta's parents rushed to the house after a neighbor called to tell them their daughter had been shot twice in the head.
"Her eyes were open. And I just put my hand up on her - just shut her eyes. And I felt her. She was cold. It hurt so much," Betty said. "…one person destroying a mother and three kids."
"The first thing out of my mouth was, 'Where is that son of a bitch?' Talking about my son-in-law, Bob Fratta," Lex said in 2010. "I knew immediately that Bob had something to do with it."
Homicide detectives suspected Fratta too, but it took them a few months to compile enough evidence to charge him.
Chapter 3 'My mother was in danger'
Fratta was already on HCSO Detective Larry Davis's radar months before Farah Fratta was gunned down.
She called the sheriff's office one night after waking up to see a masked man standing over her with a stun gun.
"I woke up to my mother screaming," Bradley said. "I had no idea really what was going on. All I know was my mother was in danger and something wasn't right."
"We were just screaming, crying outside the door, 'Let our mommy go, leave her alone, leave her alone.'"
After using the stun gun on Farah Fratta, the attacker left and was never caught.
She told investigators that she thought her husband had something to do with it but there was no proof.
Chapter 4 'Cheesing on the camera'
Fratta's behavior after his wife's death also raised suspicion.
After being interrogated by homicide detectives the day after she was killed, Fratta swaggered toward the TV cameras with a big grin on his face.
"He's just happy-go-lucky… he's cheesing to the camera," Davis told "48 Hours Mystery." "He gave all indications that he was going to get away with this murder."
Detectives were determined to make sure that didn't happen. They didn't make much headway in the initial interrogation and Fratta tried to shift blame elsewhere.
Interviewer: "What's wrong with this picture? Your wife lives in an above-average neighborhood. And very little happens there, I know that for a fact. Your wife is shot out of the clear blue as she's going to the garage. Nothing is taken from her."
Fratta: "Um, all I can say is check her lifestyle. She went out clubbing a lot, got a boob job, flaunted a lot."
Detectives searched Fratta's car and found $1,000 in the glove compartment -- the same amount promised to the hitman.
They started following Fratta and talking to people who knew him.
He spent a lot of time at the gym where more than a dozen workout buddies told investigators that Fratta talked a lot about getting rid of his wife.
One guy said Fratta had a list of his wife's activities and was going to hire a gang member to kill her. Others said he was asking around to find someone who would do it. They told investigators they didn't call the police because they didn't think he was serious.
Chapter 5 The hitman and the middleman
While Fratta thought the church visit would provide the perfect alibi, his actions there turned out to be his downfall. The children and several witnesses at the church told police that Fratta spent a lot of time on the phone that night.
Phone records showed he was calling Mary Gipp whose live-in boyfriend was Joseph Prystash, an ex-con and one of Fratta's workout partners.
"In my mind, she was the key to this case," Davis said.
Gipp initially refused to cooperate. For months, she wouldn't budge.
"She was a witch. She was a smart aleck. She was a bitch," Siegler told "48 Hours."
When they threatened to charge her in the case, she finally started talking in exchange for immunity. She said Prystash acted as the middleman in exchange for Fratta's Jeep. He recruited their neighbor, 18-year-old Howard Guidry, to be the triggerman and promised him $1,000.
Guidry was the man dressed in black the neighbor saw after the shooting and Prystash was the one who picked him up.
Gipp stayed home and watched ice skating on TV until Prystash returned.
"I asked him if she was dead. That was the only thing I asked," she told Schlesinger. "And he said, 'Yes.' And I said, 'How do you know?' And he said. 'Because I was there. And I saw her.'"
Then the couple had sex.
Guidry was already behind bars for a bank robbery that happened after the murder. He used the same gun for both crimes and it was traced back to Robert Fratta.
Guidry and Prystash confessed and confirmed that Fratta planned the whole thing. Both were later convicted of capital murder and sent to death row.
Five months after Farah Fratta's murder, Robert was arrested and charged.
Chapter 6 'He's a psychopath'
Before Fratta's arrest, he tried to get custody of the children, who were with his wife's parents. Lex and Betty, still in mourning for their daughter, were appalled that he was allowed by law to visit the children.
The Baquers eventually adopted Bradley, Daniel and Amber, who took their mother's maiden name.
Through the years, they've taken different paths to cope with knowing that their father killed their mother.
"He's a psychopath," Amber told "48 Hours."
She was 18 when she confronted her father while he was in jail awaiting his second trial. It was the first time she'd seen him in 14 years.
"He had a grin on his face like he had no emotion to him at all," Amber remembered. "He had the nerve to tell me please go to Christian counseling. By then I had heard enough from him. Basically, I let him know that when he does die, he gets that needle in his arm, I want to be there."
On her 19th birthday, Amber took the stand and asked jurors to send her father to the death chamber.
"My mom wasn't there for my first date, my first kiss, and she won't be there for the birth of my kids," she said.
Daniel admitted he's had anger issues throughout his life and he's had some run-ins with the law.
"I was always upset. I would see kids with their dads or their mothers. I was always jealous, always mad," Daniel said. "I feel like it's all directed towards my dad. He's the reason why I'm angry so much."
"I still pray every single night to her," Bradley said. "Dear mommy, I love you and I miss you and I'll never ever forget about you. And I will continue praying for you every single night as long as I live."