CARLSBAD, Calif. -- A temporary restraining order filed by a Carlsbad woman one week before she was murdered outlined a pattern of alleged abuse by the man accused of strangling her.
Authorities have not said where the body of Kathleen Cary Scharbarth, a 35-year-old furniture importer, was discovered -- only that it was a remote location in the county and that she died of strangulation.
Her 43-year-old ex-boyfriend, Michael David Robles, was arrested Friday and behind bars in Vista on suspicion of kidnapping and murder.
"Over the past years, he has stalked me on numerous occasions. A few months ago, he stalked my daughter," Scharbath stated in the restraining order filed on November 17. "I begged and demanded that (Robles) leave me alone."
Scharbarth went on to call Robles "erratic, forceful, badgering, threatening and I am scared for my safety."
On November 16, one day before filing the restraining order, Scharbarth said Robles stalked her outside her Carlsbad home. When another man arrived at her home, Robles allegedly, "barged into my home to confront my friend."
"A day earlier, he threatened to beat my new friend to a bloody pulp if he saw us together," she added in the report.
Robles and Scharbarth broke up nine months earlier, according to a police report. Her restraining order referenced an incident from 2008 where Robles allegedly grabbed her arm and pulled her into his car. She eventually escaped with a bruised arm, but did not press charges.
Scharbarth's current boyfriend had left her home late Wednesday night, then returned on Thanksgiving morning, Scharbarth's birthday, to have breakfast together, according to broadcast reports. He reportedly found the door to her house open and her 13-year-old daughter asleep inside, then called police to report her missing.
Carlsbad police reports described the day Scharbarth vanished, stating neighbors thought they saw a man peering over her fence in the 3100 block of Via Puerta, east of Melrose Drive, the night before.
Robles' neighbors didn't know much about him, but said police were at his house on Baja Vista Drive in Fallbrook the morning after Thanksgiving. Authorities returned Sunday with dogs. Their search warrants were sealed as of Monday.
Several agencies were involved in the investigation, including the state Department of Justice. Robles was denied bail and is scheduled to be arraigned on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m.
The Scharbarth family has set up the Madison Scharbarth Fund for the victim's daughter. Donations will be used to pay for the costs of her future education and living expenses:
Madison Scharbarth Fund - Account 2300062102
California Bank and Trust, 132 Saxony Road, Encinitas, California 92024
