The Good Wife: The Shocking Betrayal and Brutal Murder of a Godly Woman in Texas

by Clint Richmond

Roger and Penny Scaggs seemed a poster couple for family values. Evangelical Christians living in booming Austin, Texas, in the mid-1990s, they were respected leaders in their church and community. As Roger diligently worked his way up the high-tech corporate ladder, Penny kept a pristine home and coached similarly devout young women on how to be perfect wives. But on a windy March evening, this godly woman met the devil head-on. And when the police...

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0380797437
• ISBN13: 9780380797431
• Release Date: July 2007
• Publisher: Harper
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.42 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 4.8" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

What happens when you don't follow God

This is a well written and gripping book. Penny Scaggs was battered to death, and then, after death, stabbed repeatedly, in a fury, two wounds so deep they went through her chest. Why? Penny was a deeply religious woman who devoted her life to her family and volunteer work for others. She even gave classes in how to become a good wife for your husband. For decades, her family had seemed the perfect embodiment of goodness. Then, slowly, cracks appeared. The teenage daughter rebelled. Her father seemed to support her. Roger, Penny's husband, was wealthy and successful. After thirty years as a good husband, however, he began to grow away from Penny. A striking incident: after he got a pilot's license he held a party and said, "'Now, everyone, tell a little experience pertaining to me getting my pilot's license'" (p 68). It was all about me, me, me, it seems. Soon he was having an affair with a much younger woman, and sleeping with the woman at his daughter's apartment. The daughter, meanwhile, in what also must have broken Penny's heart, had taken a job at a strip club, and briefly married and divorced a bartender there. Roger could have divorced Penny and continued a life of pleasure without her. But that would have cost him half his fortune by Texas law. So instead he murdered Penny.

Really scary

This was a really good book. I have read many true crime books, and will probably always remember this one. I felt really sad for this lady. She was a really giving and amazing person, it is very tragic that her life ended the way it did. Her husband didn't deserve her. This book was well written. You won't want to put it down.

In 2014, Roger Scaggs will be up for Parole!

The story of a husband killing his wife might be as old as time itself. The author, Clint Richmond, is newbie in the field of true crime non-fiction but that doesn't make him inexperienced. This book is quite engaging about the ideal marriage of Roger and Penny Scaggs. On the surface, it appeared to be perfect or near it after 35 years of marriage. In fact, Penny's life ministry was teaching about being a good wife and mother. Her whole world was God first and her husband second. In a world where women seeked equal opportunity. Penny wanted the ideal marriage but it slowly crumbled away not because of her doing. She did everything to maintain a loving home filled with music and God. There were instances in the book that I felt that Penny went overboard especially with their adopted daughter, Sarah Scaggs. She wanted her daughter to be a devoted Christian wife but that took a detour. Her husband, Roger Scaggs, was a well-known respected executive at EDS or APS. He climbed his way up the corporate ladder. Besides the beautiful home in a respected part of Austin, Texas, he had a boat and planned on buying a small plane. Even though Penny disliked flying, sailing, or even the motorcycle, she tolerated so much in her marriage that was falling apart. Never mind that she was one of the most beloved women in Austin, beloved by her peers who considered her to be their best friend. The outrage over her brutal death which was cruel and just unimaginable. She was playing the piano which she loved to do. She spent many of her hours at the grand piano. It was there that her husband ended her life by blows to the head. It wasn't enough, he stabbed her and robbed her of the jewelry to make it look like a crime scene. Of course, the husband would be the first suspect. He had the only motive to kill this poor woman. No burglar would over kill or allow the woman like Penny to be killed in such a matter to leave evidence behind. A burglar would just want the valuables. In fact, he could have probably wandered around the large home and steal without hurting Penny. Sadly, robbery was not a crime. Penny refused any notion of a divorce as a sense of failure. Roger knew this and his extramarital affair would come into focus. Sadly, Penny was a decent woman, she was too good for Roger Scaggs. I hope that she is in heaven with God. She had taught thousands of Texas women to be good wives. There was no doubt that Penny was a remarkable wife who put her husband's needs, desires, and wants ahead of her own. The book doesn't feel like a true crime book because it details and describes Austin's society and history as well as the economic history. Penny's legacy besides a daughter who became a successful attorney was the women that she inspired and influenced by living the life of a good wife. She wasn't just a good wife. She was an extraordinary wife, woman, friend, sister, neighbor, parishoner, and angel of mercy. She was the kind of woman who deserved better than Roger Scag

A brutal, senseless murder of a good woman

Truly a shocking story! What makes it more shocking is knowing it actually occurred in our society. A woman so involved in her church activities who teaches a class to many other women from her church and from elsewhere, of how to connect with a husband by being sort of "subservient" to him. A wife should cater to her husband and try to accommodate him at all times, according to these classes. For the thought that a husband of a woman so much in love with her husband and daughter could be treated so terribly after many years of marriage. "The Good Wife" was Penny Scaggs who was brutally slain while playing her piano in her own home. The attack sent shockwaves through the community. No one believed that this loving and caring wife could possible be brutally killed in a terribly messy way. Very hard blows of a pipe bashed her head in repeatedly followed by the knifing on several areas of her body to complete the killing as if she wasn't dead by the pipe blows. Her bedroom had been ransacked also making the police think it could have been a robbery gone bad. The husband, Roger Skaggs, was very highly thought off by friends as well as his business in which he was an executive. Roger couldn't have done this to anyone, and certainly not Penny. They were both very active church members as well as liked by their friends in the community and nothing this brutal could have happened to them. As things went along with the investigation, the police connected Roger more and more with the brutal murder of his wife. Penny's friends started thinking about some things that were said and actions Roger had taken recently and started to wonder themselves what could have occurred and by whom? Rogers's friends, especially those at his work, denied any accusations against Roger. He was too good a husband and man to do such an atrocious thing. The Austin, Texas area was shocked and in tumult when authorities questioned many of them about their relationship with Roger and Penny. Many things came out that shined more light on the case. Roger had, over the past few years, purchased an airplane and a boat, both of which he tried to get Penny to enjoy. She would go with Roger sometimes just to be a perfect wife to him. She did not really want to do either activity but she felt obliged. The reader does not get bored. This story is greatly detailed but not in a way that puts one to sleep. Clint Richmond tells the story in a way that keeps the reader involved in the investigation from beginning to the end. Do not hesitate to purchase this book and read it. You will enjoy it.