the police, DeRoos'ex-wife, who'd moved to Eugene, Oregon, and changed her name, told investigators she had lied about her husband being with her all night in their apartment. Detective Thomas Chennette, who interviewed her, said he didn't believe she knew he had killed Curran, but was protecting him because they were newly married and obviously in love and he had a criminal record. It was established that DeRoos, a cigarette smoker, had gotten into an argument with his wife on the evening of July 20 and gone out for a walk "to cool off." The next day he told his wife of two weeks to tell police investigating Curran's death that he had never left their apartment, warning her that his past criminal record would "unfairly" make him a suspect in her death. Burlington detectives also interviewed a San Francisco, California woman who'd married DeRoos in 1974, who told them he had a "penchant" for "sudden outbursts of violence." She said there were two instances where he was violent around her, one when the couple was talking with a female friend and he took out a pocket knife and stabbed the woman in her abdomen “for no reason whatsoever.” He was arrested but the woman did not press charges. At another time, she said, they were having dinner when he suddenly started to strangle her without any apparent reason, at which point she left him. DeRoos died aged 46 years old in 1983 at a San Francisco hotel from a drug overdose. See also Cold case References 1971 deaths 1971 murders in the United States American murder victims Criminal investigation Murder in Vermont Rape in the United States Violence against women in the United States History of women in Vermont