Lawsuit: Accused killer's parents, counselor covered up evidence in Fox Chapel shooting death

The mother of a man who was shot and killed in Fox Chapel two years ago is suing the alleged killer’s parents and their marriage counselor, accusing the three of covering up evidence of the crime.

T. Lee Rouse believes that if Adam Rosenberg’s parents would have been forthright when they discovered the gun that police believe was used to kill her son Christian Moore Rouse, it is possible another young man might still be alive.

Rosenberg is accused of killing Moore-Rouse, 22, on Dec. 21, 2019. His body wasn’t found until March 3, 2020. Rosenberg, 23, is separately charged with killing Jeremy Dentel in his Baldwin home on Feb. 15, 2020.

“That bothers Christian’s mother to no end,” said attorney Mark Homyak, who is representing her in the civil case. “She didn’t want to share her misery over her son’s death with this other man’s parents and believes it could have been avoided.”

T. Lee Rouse previously sued Adam Rosenberg in July.

The new complaint, filed Tuesday in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court, names as defendants Rosenberg’s parents, Kimberly and Howard Rosenberg, and Martha Laux, who was their marriage counselor at Counseling and Wellness Center of Pittsburgh LLC.

Laux had no comment on the lawsuit when reached Wednesday afternoon.

Stephanie Wijkstrom, the founder of the Counseling and Wellness Center, said that while they express condolences to all involved, they are wrongfully named as defendants.

Laux had not been affiliated with the practice since April 2018, Wijkstrom said.

Messages left for the Rosenbergs were not immediately returned.

The complaint said that after Moore-Rouse was killed, either Adam Rosenberg told his parents what he had done or they suspected it when they saw Moore-Rouse was no longer visiting their home and their son was no longer visiting him.

At some point between the day of the killing and Jan. 20, 2020, Kimberly and Howard Rosenberg came upon the gun that police said was used to kill Moore-Rouse, and they knew it was likely to be evidence of a crime, the complaint said.

The lawsuit said Kimberly and Howard Rosenberg took the gun to Laux.

On Jan. 20, 2020, Laux went to the Allegheny County Police District 3 station in McCandless and turned in the Ruger 9 mm handgun, according to the criminal complaint against Rosenberg.

“When she did so, defendant Laux falsely told the police she had found a loaded magazine and the unloaded gun on a trail off of Southridge Drive in North Park while walking her dog,” the lawsuit said.

Those actions, Homyak wrote, delayed the police investigation and ultimate discovery of Moore-Rouse’s body until March 3, 2020.

In their Oct. 20 depositions in the initial lawsuit filed against their son, Kimberly and Howard Rosenberg pleaded their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination when asked questions about the gun.

“Did you and/or your husband give a handgun to Martha Laux?” Homyak asked Kimberly Rosenberg.

“I respectfully invoke my rights under the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution as per my counsel,” she responded.

She answered the same way over a series of questions, including whether she was aware that her son had the gun or if she knew or suspected the gun had been used to kill Moore-Rouse.

Howard Rosenberg answered the questions the same way in his deposition.

T. Lee Rouse believes that Kimberly and Howard Rosenberg, as well as Laux, ought to face criminal charges.

“From the very first time I met with my client on this case, she was angry about why the Rosenbergs and Laux had not been charged,” Homyak said.

The lawsuit said Kimberly and Howard Rosenberg knew of their son’s friendship with Christian Moore-Rouse, including that their son would use the family’s credit card to book rideshares for Rouse to their home. In addition, Kimberly Rosenberg drove her son to Rouse’s home in Verona on multiple occasions.

Adam Rosenberg’s parents should have been aware of the possibility their son had harmed Moore-Rouse after they learned he’d gone missing, the lawsuit said.

The complaint said Adam Rosenberg began to show signs of severe mental illness in spring 2019, escalating from paranoid thoughts to bizarre, delusional thoughts and actions, including physically violent acts toward others, some of which resulted in multiple criminal charges being filed against him.

As the result of that behavior, the Rosenbergs had their son involuntarily committed to Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic in March 2019, according to the complaint.

He was involuntarily committed five times through summer 2019, with each one being extended following a required hearing, the complaint said.

After each hospitalization, Adam Rosenberg returned to live with his parents, the lawsuit said.

The complaint said Adam Rosenberg overdosed on heroin at his parents’ home in October 2019 and was flown to UPMC Presbyterian for treatment. He remained in a coma for a week and was hospitalized for an additional two weeks before being discharged, according to the complaint.

In the months that followed, the complaint said, Rosenberg’s parents knew Moore-Rouse was the only person who continued to spend time with their son.

On Dec. 21, 2019, Adam Rosenberg invited Rouse to his home and ordered him a rideshare for transportation.

That day, police said, Adam Rosenberg shot Moore-Rouse in the back of the head, dragged his body across the road and left it in a wooded area of Old Squaw Park Trail.

Moore-Rouse’s family reported him missing a few days later.

Homyak said T. Lee Rouse, who is biracial, told the attorney she believed “if the shoe were on the other foot, that it would have been different.”

“‘If my son had committed crimes and shown himself to require inpatient psychiatric treatment over and over again, and then overdosed on heroin causing a weeklong coma, and he shot and killed this white kid from a wealthy family in Fox Chapel and then I got possession of the gun he possessed and gave it to my counselor, and my counselor lied about it to the police, I think I and my counselor would have been criminally charged’” Homyak said T. Lee Rouse told him.

“‘I don’t understand why those people have not been prosecuted,’” Homyak said the mother told him. “I couldn’t disagree with her.”