Suspect in Coast deputy’s killing faces 8 new charges, many related to child sex crimes
In the moments before Joseph Michael Rohrbacker allegedly shot and killed a Hancock County deputy, his wife said he had overheard someone on the phone accusing him of sex crimes against children.
It wasn’t long after that his wife, Shannon Rohrbacker, said he had a “mental meltdown,” cut her dog’s throat and fatally wounded sheriff’s deputy Lt. Michael Boutte.
She attributed his actions to his diagnosed bipolar disorder and paranoid schizophrenia, and said they couldn’t afford to pay for the treatment he needed to get better.
In an exclusive interview, Hancock County Sheriff Ricky Adam shed some light on the Feb. 1 incident.
After the Sun Herald published exclusive details — including that Shannon Rohrbacker said her husband’s violent episode started after he overheard someone accuse him of a crime to aid in a divorce proceeding — Hancock County sheriff’s deputies investigated further to learn more.
Investigators conducted a forensic interview with a minor girl, Adam said, and did other interviews resulting in new charges.
The Hancock County Sheriff’s Office obtained warrants to arrest Joseph Rohrbacker, 30, on Thursday on the following charges:
- three counts of touching a child for lustful purposes, or molestation,
- three counts of contributing to the delinquency of a child,
- one count of intimidating a witness
- one count of aggravated animal cruelty.
In the molestation case, Rohrbacker is accused of repeatedly touching a 14-year-old girl sexually, the same allegations his wife said he had overheard her talking about on the phone with a relative of the alleged sex crime victim.
Rohrbacker also is charged with intimidating a witness for allegedly threatening a relative of the alleged child sex crime victim over the allegations of wrongdoing.
He was arrested on the felony aggravated animal cruelty charge for cutting the dog’s throat and the delinquency charges for taking the action in front of three children on the property on Earl C. Ladner Road.
Boutte shot, killed after responding to home
Boutte and another deputy were responding to a report of a suicide threat at the home the day of Boutte’s killing.
When the call ended that Rohrbacker overheard, his wife said, he and was kicking and screaming and no one could calm him down.
Shannon Rohrbacker said she had gone into another home on the property when she heard the children screaming outside, went to check on them and learned her husband had cut her dog’s throat in front of the kids.
The family called 911 for help.
Rohrbacker allegedly shot Boutte, 57, as soon as he stepped out of his patrol car at the home. He used an antique 12-gauge shotgun given to him by a relative about 8 months earlier, Shannon told the Sun Herald.
He also had a history of run-ins with law enforcement, and in one police report a relative described him as “mentally handicapped and had the mental capacity of a 5-year-old child.’”
Rohrbacker was shot and injured in an exchange of gunfire with Boutte.
He remained hospitalized in New Orleans until March 16, when he was extradited back to Mississippi and charged with capital murder in the officer’s killing.
Despite any new bonds on the additional charges, Rohrbacker will remain jailed. When someone is charged with capital murder in Mississippi, they are not entitled to a bond.
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigations is heading up the investigation into the fatal police shooting.
If convicted of capital murder, Rohrbacker could face a sentence of life without parole or death by lethal injection.
