Pennsylvania

Road Rage Killing Case Against Accused Murderer Moves Forward in Chester County

David Desper is accused of gunning down Bianca Roberson during a road rage encounter

Shackled in handcuffs, a Pennsylvania man charged with shooting and killing an 18-year-old student during a road rage encounter waived his preliminary hearing in a Chester County court Thursday morning.

The case will now move forward in the Court of Common Pleas. 

David Desper, 28, entered the courtroom quietly, his beard darker and fuller than when he first surrendered to authorities in July. He did not make eye contact with Bianca Roberson's family.

Desper's attorney, Daniel McGarrigle, declined to comment on his client's condition. He is charged with first- and third-degree murder, possession of an instrument of crime and reckless endangerment.

Relatives and friends of Roberson, who died June 28 just weeks before leaving for college, crammed into the courtroom and overflowed into adjacent hallways to witness the proceedings. Many of them wore T-shirts calling for “justice.” They hugged at the end of the five-minute hearing, which started a full hour earlier than reporters were told to arrive.

Outside, Roberson’s father, Rodney Roberson, vowed to make Desper’s life as miserable as his has become. Roberson said he hopes Desper will receive the death penalty. The Roberson family also plans to sue Desper in civil court.

“He took something away from us,” Roberson said.

“We need to have justice on some other things. We need to take some things from him, make some things painful for him. It’s not about money. We’re just trying to do whatever it is we can to get back at him.”

Police say Desper, of Trainer, Pennsylvania, and Roberson, of West Chester, were engaged in a high-speed "cat-and-mouse game" as both tried to merge into a single highway lane on Route 100 in Chester County. Desper shot Roberson in the head and then sped off, according to investigators. After a dramatic manhunt that spanned multiple states and days, Desper turned himself into authorities in the early hours of July 2.

Previously, Roberson implied his daughter’s death was racially motivated. He echoed that sentiment Thursday morning.

“I can’t think no other alternative why would have done something like that,” he said.

Those who knew Bianca described her as a “sweet child” with a “full life to live.” On the day she died, the recent high school graduate was returning home from a college shopping trip.

She was set to attend Jacksonville University in Florida this fall and wanted to study criminal justice, her family said.

“There are no words that can describe what he did,” Renee Manon, a close family friend, said. “A mother, a father lost their child. What can [Desper] say? There is nothing he can say.”

Bianca’s older brother died in 2013 of heart disease.

Desper will return to court for his formal arraignment Aug. 24. He is being held at the Chester County Prison.

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