After nearly 3-decades on death row, former Missouri City safety officer faces execution

HOUSTON – Barring any last-minute stays, Robert “Bob” Fratta is scheduled for execution Tuesday in Huntsville.

Fratta’s execution date comes almost 29 years after his estranged spouse, Farah Fratta, was murdered.

On Nov. 9, 1994 Farah had simply returned to her Atascocita residence when she was ambushed in her storage and shot within the head. A neighbor witnessed the capturing and instantly dialed 911.

“I simply noticed a capturing, I used to be in my lounge nursing my child and I regarded out my window and our neighbor was exterior our storage and she or he was shot two instances,” Laura Hoelscher is heard telling a dispatcher on a recording of that emergency name.

Hoelscher then informed police the gunman was picked up by one other one that drove off.

Bob was nearly immediately thought-about a suspect.

“Detective 101, investigator 101, you’re going to take a look at the husband,” stated Houston Crimestoppers’ Andy Kahan.

These suspicions intensified when investigators realized Bob and Farah had been locked in a contentious divorce and custody battle over their three kids. Court docket paperwork and testimony point out Bob’s intensifying sexual appetites had been the explanation for the divorce.

Information stories from 1994 additionally present $1,000 in money was discovered within the glove compartment of Bob’s automobile the evening of Farah’s homicide. Bob informed detectives it was cash for a brand new carpet.

“Did you organize to have your spouse killed?” a detective requested Bob throughout an interrogation the evening of Farah’s homicide.

“No, I didn’t,” Bob answered.

A portion of the videotaped interrogation stays within the Harris County courtroom archives. Bob appeared calm and stated he had no thought who would need to kill his spouse.

Bob is then heard telling the detective he’s a Missouri Metropolis public security officer. On the time, that place was a hybrid firefighter and police officer. Bob informed the detective he questioned whether or not his work made Farah a goal. The detective balked on the suggestion.

“Who hates your spouse sufficient to kill her?” the detective requested.

“No person that I can consider. I imply I can’t consider anyone that hates her,” Bob stated.

“What’s mistaken with this image?” the detective stated.

One other detective who questioned Bob that evening spoke with reporters following his launch from custody.

“He’s mendacity. He’s been mendacity all evening. You recognize there’s no theft, there’s no sexual assault, there’s no carjacking, principally, you bought a mom of three coming residence from work at 8 o’clock in a low crime, prosperous subdivision in northeast Harris County, principally will get ambushed and shot execution model,” the detective stated in 1994.

Bob additionally spoke to reporters after his launch and stated he had an alibi.

“Properly, on the time it occurred I used to be at church with my kids,” Bob stated in 1994.

Whereas that’s true, detectives nonetheless targeted on Bob as a suspect.

5 months after Farah was murdered, Bob was arrested and charged with capital homicide. Court docket data and trial testimony confirmed Bob was vocal about his anger over the divorce and custody battle, always complaining he was broke. Testimony additionally revealed Bob requested a number of folks about discovering somebody to kill his spouse.

“He’s so self-serving, so egotistical, a traditional narcissist that believes the world revolves round him,” stated Kahan. “He simply couldn’t fathom that he wouldn’t be granted custody and he didn’t need to pay youngster help.”

Court docket data learn Bob employed Joseph Andrew Prystash and Howard Paul Guidry to kill his spouse. Detectives stated Prystash was the go-between and get-away driver and Guidry was the triggerman.

Judy Cox was a social employee assigned to oversee visits between Bob and his three kids after their mom’s homicide. Bradley was 7, Daniel 6 and Amber 4 on the time of their mom’s homicide.

“I can keep in mind (Amber) strolling across the workplace and saying to anybody who would pay attention, ‘the unhealthy guys put bullets in my mommy’s head,’ Cox stated.

Cox’s notes from these conferences reveal the confusion and ache the youngsters endured.

“They needed to know after they may reside with him. Amber cried when he left and needed only one extra hug,” Cox learn from her case notes.

Cox stated she remembers Bradley asking his father concerning the cash present in his automobile.

“He needed to know, ‘Daddy, why did you’ve all that cash in your automobile?’” Cox stated.

She stated Bob informed his son the identical factor he informed police, it was for a brand new carpet. Cox stated Bradley additionally testified in the course of the trial he noticed his father stand up twice to make use of the cellphone whereas they had been at church the evening Farah was murdered.

Cox stated prosecutors used that testimony, partly, to indicate Bob was calling to see if his estranged spouse’s homicide had been carried out. Telephone calls from Bob linked him to Prystash’s then-girlfriend, who turned a crucial witness for the prosecution.

Guidry was later arrested for financial institution theft and detectives realized the gun used throughout that theft is believed to be the identical used to kill Farah. Detectives additionally decided the gun had been bought by Bob.

“My poor daughter, she stood in entrance of him. He may have spared her,” stated Lex Baquer exterior a courtroom in 1994. “These persons are not human.”

Cox stated Farah’s mom and father, Lex and Betty Baquer, adopted the youngsters.

“Once they turned 18 they went to go to him one time,” Cox stated of Bob’s two sons.

“And that was it?” requested KPRC 2 Investigator Robert Arnold.

“They requested him one query and he didn’t reply and so they left,” Cox stated.

“I’m assuming that query was ‘why,’” Arnold stated.

“Right,” Cox stated.

Bob was convicted and sentenced to die in 1994. Greater than a decade later, he was granted a retrial when it was decided Prystash and Guidry’s confessions shouldn’t have been allowed into proof.

“I simply felt so sorry for Lex and Betty having to undergo that once more,” stated Cox.

In 2009, Bob was once more convicted of Farah’s homicide and given the loss of life penalty. Kahan stated he’ll attend the execution; fulfilling a promise he stated he made to Lex Baquer earlier than he handed away in 2018.

“‘If I can’t be there, will you go in my place as a result of I need to make certain this really occurs,’” Kahan stated Lex requested him. “There are specific instances that deserve the loss of life penalty and Bob Fratta is correct on the prime of the listing. He’s an evil, sadistic man.”

Prystash and Guidry had been additionally convicted of Farah’s homicide and sentenced to loss of life, however their execution dates haven’t been scheduled.