The Billionaire Heiress Murder Mystery

A Billionaire Heiress and a secluded Virginia Mansion. A passionate affair with a dashing and charismatic young Polo player. This is a very sexy story. It had money, mystery, wealth, horses and of course a murder that no one could figure out the motive for. Just what was going on behind the closed doors at Ashland Farms? Read on and find out.

At 10:00 AM on September 7th 1997 Fauquier County police responded to a 911 call by Ashland horse farm. In the servants kitchen at the estate they found the body of Roberto Viagas, a professional Polo player and the lover of a Billionaire Heiress who owned the estate. He lay face down in a pool of blood, shot four times at close range. It's a crime that rocked the Gentile world of Virginia's Hunt Country. It was the story of a reclusive Heiress and a handsome South American Polo player. It's the stuff of fairy tales or a recipe for disaster.

Susan Cummings was born into a world of unimaginable wealth. Her parents were globe trotting expatriates who moved among Europe's most elite social circles. Her Father was former CIA Agent Sam Cummings, one of the largest arms dealers in the world. Although nobody knows for sure what his net worth was it was thought to be in the Billions. Susan was born in Southern France in 1962 and was raised in a palace like home in the principality of Monaco. As a young girl she was educated in the finest Swiss boarding school named Le Rosey. She then came to Washington DC and attended a girls college named Mount Vernon, which was well known to people with little girls with a lot of money.

Tareq Salahi owns a winery in Northern Virginia and was friends with Susan. He says she eventually fell in love with Virginia and loved horses. The area Susan fell in love with is called Hunt Country. Its' rolling hills and undeveloped woodlands make it perfect for fox hunting, horse jumping, horse racing, and the area is home to a myriad of Polo teams. Hunt country has also been a magnet to the rich and famous. Susan moved into a four million dollar estate her Father bought for her called Ashland Farms. It has often been said that you can determine the value and prestige of an estate by the number of chimneys a mansion has. Susan's mansion had nine.

While Ashland Farms was the largest and most historic Estate in Hunt Country, Susan rarely invited people over. When she did her guests were often taken aback by what they found. Travis Worsham, a polo player, says he and his wife and he got invited over there one night for dinner and says there was barely any furniture in the house. Susan's spartan living arrangements fit her personality. Richard Varge, President of the Great Meadow Polo Club, says Susan was one of the most shy and most withdrawn persons he has ever met. But she loved horses, dogs and cats as was reflected by the fact that her farm was full of them. Louisa Woodville, a friend of Susan's says she was always very thoughtful of the animals, always worrying if they had enough food and making sure they were always properly taken care of.

For a wealthy woman like Susan, who preferred the company of animals to humans and preferred to stay out of the social spotlight, Ashland Farms was perfect. In the summer of 1994, Susan attended a Polo match at Great Meadows Polo Club. Polo matches are a ritual among the wealthy as it brings all the neighbors out together and they watch the Polo matches and have tailgate parties and generally have a great deal of fun. Susan was immediately taken by the game and as she loved horses wanted to become a part of the scene. They have classes there in order to bring people along and introduce them to the sport so she decided to take lessons and was immediately hooked. She spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and turned Ashland Farms into a state of the art horse training facility.

Ashland Farms may have been on of the best training facilities in the area but Susan wasn't much of a Polo player. She had a difficult time learning the sport because of her lack of upper body physical strength. In the summer of 1995, Susan met the man who would change her life forever, Argentine Polo player, Roberto Viagas. He came to Hunt country from a little town in Argentina and his Family had practically no money. When he first came he could barely speak a word of English but he eventually worked his way up as a horse trainer and Polo player. In addition to his own string of horses, by the 1990s, Roberto also became a star in the Florida winter leagues as a Polo player. He was, by all accounts, a phenomenal Polo player and every one liked playing with him because he was always a gentleman.

Roberto's laid back, happy go lucky attitude and spirit made him a star both on and off the field. He was truly a charmer, always smiling and in high spirits. He was an idol to many of the young people both because of his playing ability and the way he acted. No one ever saw Roberto lose his temper. Roberto gave Polo lessons at Great Meadow Polo Club, where most of his students were women. He also had the reputation as the Casanova of Hunt Country. Then in August of 1995, Roberto turned his attention away from all the ladies and towards on student in particular, Susan Cummings. Before long the gregarious former stable boy and the reclusive European bred billionaire heiress had fallen for each other. They became inseparable, and although they tried to keep the relationship quiet it was perhaps the worst kept secret in Hunt Country.

A wealthy heiress having a fling with a handsome Polo player might be a little scandalous but it was not criminal. Susan was incredibly rich and Roberto was incredibly handsome. But what happened next was scandalous to say the least. In the winter of 1997, Roberto Viagas gave up polo playing in the Florida winter league and instead went to work on the farm of his billionaire girlfriend Susan Cummings which was very unusual. In another unusual move, Roberto gave up playing Polo for several Hunt Country leagues. Professional Polo player typically play for as many teams as they can. For a player as talented as Roberto to play exclusively for Ashland Farms was very strange. And that wasn't all.. she wasn't paying him at all. Normally he would have been making $3000 a month and have his horses cared for.

In addition to living off Susan, it appeared Roberto had also relinquished financial control of his horses. When one of his horses was sold the negotiating was done mostly by Susan. As his sole patron and the financial caretaker of his horses Susan Cummings controlled every aspect of his Polo career, except one. When it came to training his horses, Roberto worked them how and when he wanted. Argentine trainers are typically tougher than their American counterparts. But word was starting to get out that Roberto was treating Susan the same way he treated his horses. There were rumors abound that Roberto would beat her with a whip but it was nothing that anyone could report because no one ever wanted to go on record with it. Roberto's friends say he loved her and would never hurt her.

In fact his male friends say he was the most even tempered person they had ever known. They also say he always protected her and would never let anything happen to her. As time went on however there was growing speculation among Hunt Club members that the relationship was in trouble. Then, on August 20th 1997, Susan Cummings walked into the Fauquier Sheriff's department and told Lt. Gary Healy that she was having a problem with one of her Ashland Farm employees, specifically one Roberto Viagas. She said he had become overly possessive of her and had threatened to either shoot her or stab her. She was advised that they could do something about that right away and that if she was willing to go with Lt. Healy to a magistrate he could get a restraining order on Roberto and have him out of their in minutes.

She declined to have an arrest warrant sworn out but just wanted to have it put on the record that she was afraid of him. Now that was strange. If Susan was truly afraid of her boyfriend why wouldn't she have him thrown out of the house? Less than 24 hours after going to the police, Susan and Roberto were back together at Ashland Farms. It seemed like all was well again, especially for Roberto. On September 2nd, 1997 he received a call from the Argentine Ambassador in Washington DC requesting that he join the National Polo team for a National match against the US National squad. This was to be maybe the biggest day in his life. Unfortunately he would never get the chance to play for his National team. The Argentine National team is the dream team of Polo. An invitation to play is perhaps the greatest honor an Argentine Polo player can receive.

Roberto was undoubtedly looking forward to the match. But Susan, some would later say, had other ideas. At 10:00 AM Fauquier County emergency dispatchers received a 911 call from Susan Cummings at Ashland Farms. She said that a man was shot and was dead in her kitchen. She also said that she had recently spoke to Lt. Healy and he knew of the man. When asked if she just found the man she replied that he had tried to kill her. When asked if she had shot him she replied that she had a gun, yes. When asked again if she shot him she said she needed to talk to her lawyer and would say no more. With Susan Cummings still on the line Officer Micheal Zetes started dispatching officers to Ashland Farms. Just minutes Sgt. Cuno Anderson arrived at Ashland Farms. He noticed that Susan had several cuts on her arm with bright red blood dripping down her left arm.

Susan told Sgt. Cummings that Roberto had attacked her with a knife. During the struggle she reached for a gun she had hidden in the kitchen and shot him four times. As more investigators arrived and began working the crime scene, they began to doubt Susan's story almost immediately. Roberto was lying with his feet underneath the kitchen table. Detective Lamper says there was a bullet wound in his neck, one in his shoulder, one in his back, and one in his chest. This suggested to the Detectives that Roberto was seated at the table with his back away from Susan eating breakfast when he was shot. There was unchewed food in his mouth, food on the table, crumbs in the plate and a magazine to the left of that which was open as if someone was reading a magazine. Investigators were having a hard time believing Susan's claim that their had been a struggle.

Investigator Jim Jones says that in the kitchen where this alleged struggle took place there was very little damage to the kitchen. The position of the knife Susan claimed Roberto had used to cut her looked just as suspicious. Sgt. Erich Junger, a forensics expert says that the knife was wedged between his body and his right arm which means that if Roberto was taking the knife and cutting Susan going back to breakfast and holding the knife while he is eating then gets shot and not drop the knife and fall out of the chair with the knife landing on him and at no time getting blood on his body, his clothing or anything else. He says physics is difficult and this scenario is impossible. Even more suspicious are the wounds Susan claims she sustained during Roberto's attack. The police believe that they are all superficial and all self inflicted.

There were a number of cuts running length ways down her arm and if someone is cutting you with a knife you are not going to just stand there and let someone cut you with a knife. Susan's story also fails when it comes to the time the shooting occurred. By 10:15, when the police arrived, Roberto's blood had already coagulated which means he had been shot long before Susan had called 911. The police didn't buy Susan's self defense story one bit. Who would when none of the physical evidence backed it up. The police considered it an execution. It seemed that everywhere Investigators turned it became less and less likely that this was a case of self defense and that the shy heiress was not as unassuming as everyone had thought. Investigators searched upstairs in Susan's room and find several handguns including a 357 magnum from underneath her mattress.

As police continue searching they find even more evidence that contradicts Susan's story. They find a live cartridge sitting on a notepad which was just down the hall from the kitchen. In her upstairs bedroom in a clothes closet they find a holster that the murder weapon went to and now believe that Susan got into some kind of an argument with Roberto went upstairs to get the gun from her bedroom came back downstairs and shot Roberto while he was eating and then cut herself and planted the knife on Roberto. Of course they can't prove any of this as it is just a theory and pure speculation. The police felt they had enough evidence to arrest Susan Cummings for first degree murder and on September 7th 1997 just hours after Susan Cummings had shot and killed Roberto Viagas, that's just what they did. But Susan had many ways to keep herself out of prison. Billions of them in fact.

In the meantime, Roberto's body was flown back to Argentina. He had no money for burial so a collection was taken up among his fellow Polo players to send him home for proper burial. And when the memorial was help the entire Polo team showed up to pay their last respects. Susan immediately hired high priced attorney Blair Howard as her defense counsel. She also posted the $2500 bail required to get herself out of jail immediately upon the stipulation that the guns were not returned to her possession. Blair Howard says that her story to him never changed, that she was attacked and she defended herself. As for the location of the gun she told him that the holster may have been upstairs but the gun wasn't. Blair immediately went on the attack saturating the press with her story. When the trial kicked off the prosecutor thought he had a slam dunk case.

Although he didn't have any eyewitnesses he did have forensics on his side and he was going to use that to convict Susan. At trial he thoroughly went through each piece of it. But trials are made up of people and when it as the defense' turn at bat they more than leveled the playing field. Blair called a slew of ex girlfriends who testified that Roberto was abusive and one who claimed Roberto had threatened to kill her if she didn't have sex with him. The prosecutor decided not to call a single character witness and stick with their plan of using the forensic evidence. It was a mistake they would live to regret. In the end Susan was convicted of involuntary manslaughter. And if that wasn't bad enough the Jury recommended a 60 day jail term. The prosecutors were devastated as were the Investigating officers.

You can get caught selling an ounce of crack cocaine and receive five years yet only 60 days for killing a man? Since her trial Susan served her 59 day sentence and returned to her Ashland Farm. She doesn't go to the Polo matches as it would probably be rather uncomfortable for her there. But it is said that she doesn't mind and while she still has friend in the area she has returned to her reclusive ways which is just fine with her. Most believe that from the time she walked into the Sheriff's office she had planned to kill Roberto just to be rid of him. So was the shooting of Roberto Viagas justified as self defense? You will have to decide this mystery for yourself.