A 44-year-old woman from Bartow,Florida, has been accused of killing her ex-husband and dumping his body in the yard in order to collect his insurance. She was arrested on Wednesday.
The accused, Sherri Gibbons, is a resident of 4880 Hollingsworth Road and is being charged with first-degree murder. She is awaiting her first court appearance and is being held at the Polk County jail.
At around 7 a.m. on August 26, the body of Aundra Gammons, a 56-year-old male who lived with Sherri, was found by co-workers. An autopsy ruled the death as homicide by gunshot.
According to detectives, both of them were seen shopping together the night before the murder, which also happens to be the last time Aundra was seen alive. Later that evening, according to the arrest report, Sherri - “frantically trying to obtain a way of leaving the incident location” – made 27 phone calls in around an hour.
Eventually, Rudolph Fugate, her father, came by to pick her up.
John Fugate, Sherri’s nephew, told detectives that he once heard Sherri say "I should just kill you for the insurance money” during an argument with Aundra. Last month, Sherri had also told John that she was getting more and more concerned about having to hide her “dope” when Aundra was around.
Allegedly, she went on to say, "I should just kill him and get it over with."
On August 31, Sherri had called John and asked him for help in finding an attorney for her. She wanted someone to represent her in a civil case against her (and Aundra’s) daughter – who, according to John, was listed as a beneficiary in Aundra’s will.
Sherri told her nephew that she is “going to get that money” whichever way she can. Sherri’s daughter told the police that after her father died, her mother asked her to “split the money.”
Sherri Gammons is facing the possibility of a life sentence, if found guilty.
