Sherry Lee Gibson:1975, Vincennes, Indiana

 

   The story of what happened to Sherry Lee Gibson is incredibly tragic.  All of the cases I research and write about are tragic.  But the investigation into Sherry Lee’s murder  involved multiple false accusations and the conviction of an innocent man, John Jeffers. The ripple effects of tragedy and trauma just kept on going for years. 

   Sherry Lee Gibson was born on the 27th of September in 1951 to Annabelle and Louis Gibson Jr. She graduated from Shoals High School in 1969. Shoals is east of Loogootee. It’s beautiful there. Rolling hills and old hardwood forests make it a very scenic part of Indiana. 

   By the mid seventies Sherry Lee Gibson, 23, was working in the data processing department of Good Samaritan Hospital in Vincennes, Indiana. 

   She was at a point in her life where she was dating and looking for Mr. Right, her friends said. She had gone out on Friday night and after midnight on Saturday March 1st 1975, an unthinkable nightmare began to unfold. 

  She and her boyfriend, Lindy Alton were parked on a country road.  Suddenly, a man and woman approached the car. The man beat Alton and abducted Sherry.  Alton was left locked in the trunk of the car. When he came to, he began making noise to try to get help.  A farmer came upon the car and released him.  They immediately called police and the search for Sherry began. 

   Sherry was found when firefighters responded to a fire at an abandoned house between Monroe City and Petersburg, Indiana. 

   The couple had taken Sherry to that abandoned house south about a mile south of Monroe City and raped, tortured and killed her. She died of stab wounds to the heart and lungs as they set multiple fires in the house to attempt to destroy evidence. 

   Despite the testimony of Lindy Alton clearly describing his assailant and the woman accomplice; other men were accused and jailed.  Police seemed determined that someone should pay for this crime. One innocent man, John Jeffers, killed himself while incarcerated. He had lost all hope of ever being freed and exonerated. It was just tragedy upon tragedy.

   The public probably assumed that Jeffers had killed himself due to a guilty conscience. Until a woman came forward decades later and confessed.  Ella Mae Dick implicated her old boyfriend, Wayne Gon Gulley.  

   Ella Mae Dick had begun dating Wayne Gon Gulley when she was in highschool and he was 29. He was her prom date. Imagine a 29 year old man at a highschool prom.  Gulley was predatory, very controlling, manipulative and abusive. He coerced the teen into various sexual practices that she wasn’t comfortable with.  

  Two and a half decades after Sherry Lee’s murder, Mrs. Ella Mae Dick gave enough details of the crime that her story was believed. At first she had a difficult time getting law enforcement to believe her. They had convicted an innocent man and ruined the lives of others with false accusations. 

   She and her former boyfriend, Wayne Gon Gulley, finally went to jail for this horrific murder in 2003. 

   (Recently, my Uncle told me that in the early 1970’s Ella Mae Dick and Wayne Gon Gulley rented a trailer from a neighbor. My Grandmother had a bad feeling about the couple and warned her twin daughters to steer clear of them. It is scary to think that my Aunts were riding bikes and playing outside so close to these killers.)

   The only tiny spark of good in this story is the hope that someone will talk decades later.  Someone will feel guilty and speak up even if it means that their own freedom is taken away as well. There is some hope in these long cold cases. 

   Are there other victims of Wayne Gon Gulley out there?  Probably.  Look at the boldness of the crime.  He approached a vehicle and attacked Lindy Alton and took Sherry Lee Gibson as if he had been abducting women for years. There was no hesitation. 

   Gulley was free for decades before being convicted for Gibson’s murder.  How many other young women did he assault?  What other crimes did he commit?

   Hopefully his DNA is in CODIS and other crimes might be solved. 

   Sherry was only 23. She should still be here. 

   Rest in Peace Sherry Lee Gibson.