‘Stocking Strangler’ Carlton Gary makes final appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court
Had jurors in Columbus “Stocking Strangler” Carlton Gary’s 1986 trial seen the evidence his defense team since has uncovered, they either would have found him not guilty in the heinous serial killings of 1977 and ‘78, or at least not sentenced him to death.
That’s the argument Atlanta attorneys Jack Martin and Michael McIntyre make in their 90-page application to the Georgia Supreme Court as they try to persuade the justices to hear what could be Gary’s final court appeal.
Though Gary may appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, it previously has refused to review the case. Though all condemned inmates get a last hearing before the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles, it declined to commute Gary’s sentence to life in prison in 2009.
In 2009, Gary was hours away from lethal injection when the state Supreme Court stayed his execution and sent the case back to Muscogee Superior Court to consider DNA-testing any suitable evidence from the seven rapes and stranglings of older Columbus women, most of them residents of the Wynnton area.
That testing produced mixed results, with the most promising semen sample tainted and destroyed by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation crime lab.
Attorneys since have battled over the relevance of other evidence that the defense says either exonerates Gary outright or casts so much doubt on his guilt as to have led to a different verdict or sentencing.
His defense team now is appealing Superior Court Judge Frank Jordan Jr.’s Sept. 1 ruling denying Gary both a new trial and new sentencing. Jordan agreed with the defense that much of the evidence cited is new, having come to light since Gary was convicted in three of the seven serial killings on Aug. 26, 1986, but he ruled it was not so “material” as to have led to a different outcome.
A key point in the defense appeal is this: Prosecutors in 1986 used other crimes in which Gary was implicated as “similar transactions” illustrating his method of operation, so if any of the evidence in those cases does not fit Gary, it must be considered evidence of his innocence, and thus so “material” that it could have altered the outcome.
That evidence involves so many cases over so many years that it requires a chronological review.
Back to the 1970s
Gary grew up in Columbus before moving to Florida and then New York, where he was implicated in the April 14, 1970, rape and strangling of Nellie Farmer, 85, in her home in the Wellington Hotel, Albany, N.Y. Gary’s fingerprint was found at the scene. Gary was convicted only of robbery, claiming another man killed Farmer.
Then-District Attorney Bill Smith in 1986 said this case fit Gary’s pattern: Farmer was raped and strangled and her body left covered, and when arrested, Gary blamed someone else. This would become routine, in Gary’s murder cases.
Undisclosed to the defense during Gary’s trial was a footprint found on a bathmat, where the killer apparently cleaned himself after Farmer’s rape. The imprint was a shoe size 9. Gary wears size 13½.
In August 1977, Gary escaped from prison in New York and moved back to Columbus, to a home on Fisk Avenue
That was near the 2703 Hood St. home of Gertrude Miller, 64, who was beaten, raped and choked with stockings on Sept. 11, 1977. Miller was a star witness at Gary’s trial, identifying him in court as the man who assaulted her.
But a DNA test of evidence from Miller’s case excluded Gary as the source of semen found on her undergarments. So, her identifying him – already problematic because she said she recognized him on TV after his arrest, and did not pick him from a lineup of lookalikes – must have been mistaken, the defense said.
On Sept. 16, 1977, Mary Willis “Fern” Jackson, 59, of 2505 17th St., was found brutally beaten, raped and strangled with a stocking and sash. Her body was left covered, and her stolen car later was found on Benner Avenue, near Gary’s Fisk Avenue home.
After Gary’s arrest, police reported they’d matched his fingerprint to one found at the crime scene. The defense maintains all the stranglings’ fingerprint evidence is suspect because investigators had no set standard of “points of comparison” to declare a match, and they neglected to photograph where at the crime scenes police found the prints.
On Sept. 24, 1977, Jean Dimenstein, 71, was found raped and strangled with a stocking in her home that then had the address 3027 21st St. (the street has since been renamed). Her body was left covered with sheets and a pillow.
A DNA test matched Gary to evidence found in vaginal washings from her body, authorities said. The defense questions whether prosecutors are entitled to present their own “newly discovered” evidence on a defense appeal, and whether a jury would believe results from a crime lab that tainted and destroyed another sample.
Blood evidence and DNA
On Oct. 21, 1977, Florence Scheible, 89, was found raped and strangled with a stocking in her 1941 Dimon St. home, which now has a different address. Her body was left covered. Police said they found Gary's right thumbprint on a door frame leading into Scheible's bedroom.
On Oct. 25, 1977, Martha Thurmond, 70, was found raped and strangled with a stocking in her 2614 Marion St. home. Her body was covered by a pillow, blankets and sheets. Gary's fingerprint was found on the frame of a rear bedroom window.
While again disputing the fingerprints, the defense argues testimony regarding blood evidence found at the Scheible and Thurmond crime scenes simply was wrong. A prosecution witness testified it showed the killer was a “weak or non-secretor,” meaning his bodily fluids were missing markers signifying his blood type. Gary is a strong secretor.
Secretors make up 80 percent of the population; non-secretors 20 percent. “This is a genetic factor based upon a recessive gene and was an important investigative tool in rape cases before the advent of DNA testing,” the defense writes.
The prosecution witness at Gary’s trial said such secretions may vary over time, so a strong secretor may appear to be a weak or non-secretor. During hearings on Gary’s appeal, a defense expert testified this just isn’t true: Secretors are always secretors; they don’t change.
The Thurmond crime scene produced the best semen sample suitable for DNA testing. That was the sample the GBI crime lab tainted and destroyed. “At the very minimum, the issues surrounding the egregious destruction of critical evidence as occurred in this case merits review by this court on appeal,” the defense writes the state Supreme Court.
On Dec. 28, 1977, Kathleen Woodruff, 74, was found raped and strangled in her 1811 Buena Vista Road home, later demolished during an Aflac expansion. Gary's right little fingerprint was found on the aluminum window screen where the intruder entered, and his palm print was found on the windowsill just inside.
The defense again disputes the validity of such fingerprint evidence.
The ‘Night of Terrors’
Feb. 11 and 12, 1978, would become known as the “Night of Terrors,” when a rapid series of burglaries would coincide with an attempted strangling and another murder.
Ruth Schwob, 74, of 1800 Carter Ave., was nearly strangled to death by an intruder she fought off, pressing a panic alarm by her bed. Police found her sitting on the edge of her bed, gasping, a stocking wrapped around her neck.
That same night, the 2021 Brookside Drive home of Abraham Illges was burglarized, but the intruder triggered an alarm and fled. Police said Gary later told them he ran and hid in Wildwood Park.
The next day, Mildred Borom, 78, 1612 Forest Ave., about two blocks from Schwob’s home, was found raped and strangled with a cord cut from window blinds. Her body was covered with a garment.
Undisclosed to the defense during Gary’s trial was a footprint found on the air-conditioner outside the window Schwob’s assailant crawled through. It was a size 10 shoe.
Gary wears a size 13½, the defense again notes. Because prosecutors told jurors the same person attacked Schwob, killed Borom and broke into the Illges home, the shoe print clears Gary in all three cases, his attorneys argue.
On April 20, 1978, Janet Cofer, 61, of 3783 Steam Mill Road, was found raped and strangled with a stocking. A pillow covered her face.
Investigators found a bite mark on her left breast, and the coroner had a dentist make a mold from it, preserving the teeth marks. The mold was lost until Nov. 9, 2005, when then-Coroner James Dunnavant found it in a file drawer in his office.
The mold shows a gap in the biter’s upper teeth and a crooked lower tooth, defects Gary’s teeth never had, the defense says, noting he would not have been hired as a TV model for “The Movin’ Man” clothing store in the 1970s had his smile been so flawed.
Prosecutors argued Gary later had dental work in prison. The defense counters the work was on his upper teeth only, so that does not account for the crooked lower tooth.
On May 3, 1984, authorities arrested Gary in Albany, Ga., and brought him to Columbus. That night, from around midnight until 3:30 a.m., he is alleged to have taken investigators on a tour of homes he broke into, blaming the stranglings on an accomplice, as he did in other cases.
This confession was not recorded, nor did police create a written statement for Gary to sign. The defense argues it is invalid, noting that in the Farmer case, in 1970, Gary gave a full statement 12 pages long and signed it. So, why would he refuse to sign one in 1984?
The jury in 1986 convicted Gary of burglary, rape and murder in the Scheible, Thurmond and Woodruff stranglings, with evidence from other cases used as “similar transactions.”
Had those jurors seen what has since been revealed, that would not have been their verdict, the defense concludes:
“There is an even greater probability that at least one juror would not have returned a death sentence due to lingering doubts as to guilt in light of this powerful and persuasive physical evidence undermining guilt. Simply put, this evidence shows that the state’s theory that Mr. Gary was a serial killer who had committed seven different rapes-murders was not in fact true.”
The defense filed its appeal Nov. 1, leaving prosecutors 10 days to respond. District Attorney Julia Slater said the prosecution will respond Monday.
Tim Chitwood: 706-571-8508, @timchitwoodle
THE CARLTON GARY TIMELINE
This timeline was compiled from Columbus police, court records and Ledger-Enquirer archives:
Sept. 24, 1950, Carlton Michael Gary is born in Columbus, Ga., where he lives until age 16, when he moves with his mother to Fort Myers, Fla., and later Gainesville, Fla.
Sept. 3, 1964, Gary attends Carver High School.
Nov. 18, 1965, Gary attends Spencer High School.
Jan. 31, 1966, Gary returns to Carver High School and later transfers to Dunbar High School in Fort Myers, Fla.
Oct. 31, 1967, Gary’s charged with breaking into an automobile in Gainesville, Fla.
March 17, 1968, Gary’s charged with arson in Gainesville, Fla.
Nov. 26, 1969, Gary’s charged with assaulting a police officer in Bridgeport, Conn.
April 14, 1970, Nellie Farmer, 85, is raped and strangled and her body left covered in her home in the Wellington Hotel, Albany, N.Y. Gary’s fingerprint is found at the scene. Gary claims another man killed Farmer, and is convicted only of robbery.
July 15, 1970, Gary’s sentenced to 10 years in prison for robbery.
March 31, 1975, Gary is released from prison and moves to Syracuse, NY.
June 27, 1975, the body of Marion Fisher, 40, is found on a road just outside Syracuse. She was raped and strangled. Authorities in 2007 say they match Gary’s DNA to the cold-case evidence.
July 25, 1975, Gary’s charged with escape, resisting arrest and violating parole.
July 17, 1976, Gary’s released on parole.
Sept. 3, 1976, Gary’s charged with assault.
Jan. 2, 1977, Jean Frost, 55, is raped and nearly choked to death in her home in Syracuse, N.Y. Gary has a watch taken from Frost’s home when police arrest him two days later. Again he blames another man for the assault. He is charged with possessing stolen property, resisting arrest, perjury and assault.
Aug. 23, 1977, Gary escapes from New York’s Onandaga County prison by jumping from a third-floor window. He goes home to Columbus, where he soon moves to 1027 Fisk Ave.
Sept. 11, 1977, Gertrude Miller, 64, is beaten with a board and raped in her 2703 Hood St. home, about two blocks from Fisk Avenue. Her assailant leaves behind knotted stockings he took from her dresser. She in 1986 identifies Gary as the rapist.
Sept. 16, 1977, Mary Willis “Fern” Jackson, 59, of 2505 17th St., is found brutally beaten, raped and strangled with a stocking and sash. Her body is left covered. Her stolen car is later found on Benner Avenue near Fisk Avenue.
Sept. 24, 1977, Jean Dimenstein, 71, is found raped and strangled with a stocking in her home that then had the address 3027 21st St. (the street has since been renamed). Her body was left covered with sheets and a pillow Later tests match Gary’s DNA to crime-scene evidence.
Oct. 4, 1977, Gary moves to 3231 Old Buena Vista Road.
Oct. 8, 1977, the 1427 Eberhart Avenue home of sisters Callye East, 75, and Nellie Sanderson, 78, is burglarized. Sanderson’s son Henry is visiting. The intruder steals his Toyota, which has a .22-caliber Ruger pistol under the seat. The car’s left on Buena Vista Road.
Oct. 21, 1977, Florence Scheible, 89, is found raped and strangled with a stocking in her 1941 Dimon St. home, which today has a different address. Her body was left covered. Gary's right thumbprint was found on a door frame leading into Scheible's bedroom.
Oct. 25, 1977, Martha Thurmond, 70, is found raped and strangled with a stocking in her 2614 Marion St. home. Her body was covered by a pillow, blankets and sheets. Gary's fingerprint is found on the frame of a rear bedroom window.
Nov. 11, 1977, Gary moves to 2829 Ninth St. and gets a job working the late shift at Golden’s Foundry.
Dec. 16, 1977, Gary leaves the foundry job.
Dec. 20, 1977, the 1710 Buena Vista Road home of William Swift is burglarized while the residents are away. Swift later discovers the burglar removed bars from a kitchen window to get in, then set the bars back on the windowsill. Detectives later say Swift never told police this; Gary did.
Dec. 28, 1977, Kathleen Woodruff, 74, is found raped and strangled in her 1811 Buena Vista Road home, which later was demolished during an Aflac expansion. Gary's right little fingerprint is found on the aluminum window screen where the intruder entered, and his palm print is found on the windowsill just inside.
Jan. 1, 1978, the 2021 Brookside Drive home of Abraham Illges, who is 85 and whose wife is 75, is burglarized and a Cadillac stolen. The car’s left at a restaurant on Victory Drive. Police say Gary later refers to this home as “the castle.”
Feb. 11, 1978, Ruth Schwob, 74, of 1800 Carter Ave., is nearly strangled to death by an intruder she fights off, pressing a panic alarm by her bed. Police find her sitting on the edge of her bed, gasping, a stocking wrapped around her neck.
Feb. 11, 1978, the Illges home is burglarized again, but the intruder triggers an alarm and flees. Police said Gary later told them he ran and hid in Wildwood Park.
Feb. 12, 1978, Mildred Borom, 78, 1612 Forest Ave., about two blocks from Schwob’s home on the west side of Wildwood Park, is found raped and strangled with a cord cut from window blinds. Her body’s covered with a garment. This series of rapid events becomes known as “The Night of Terrors.”
April 20, 1978, Janet Cofer, 61, of 3783 Steam Mill Road, is found raped and strangled with a stocking. A pillow covers her face. Police find Cofer’s stolen car on Mill Road.
April 20, 1978, Gary robs the Burger King at 3520 Macon Road.
May 14, 1978, Gary robs the Hungry Hunter restaurant at 1834 Midtown Drive.
Sept. 4, 1978, Gary robs the Western Sizzlin restaurant at 4385 Victory Drive.
Sept. 22, 1978, Gary robs the Talk of the Town restaurant in Greenville, S.C.
Oct. 8, 1978, Gary robs the Ryan’s Steakhouse in Greenville.
Oct. 19, 1978, Gary robs the Western Sizzlin steakhouse in Greenville.
Nov. 5, 1978, Gary robs the Po’ Folks restaurant in Greenville.
Dec. 7, 1978, Gary robs Jack’s Steak House in Greenville.
Feb. 15, 1979, having earned the nickname “Steakhouse Bandit,” Gary robs a Po’ Folks restaurant in Gafney, S.C., and is arrested the next day.
Feb. 22, 1979, Gary is convicted of armed robbery in Greenville County, S.C.
March 29, 1979, Gary is convicted of armed robbery in Cherokee County, S.C.
March 15, 1984, he escapes from a prison in Columbia, S.C., and returns to Columbus.
April 3, 1984, Gary robs a Po’ Folks restaurant on the 280 Bypass in Phenix City and rapes a woman who works there.
April 10, 1984, Henry Sanderson calls Columbus police to ask about the Ruger pistol taken from his Toyota in the 1977 Eberhart Avenue burglary. A detective sends out a nationwide alert for the gun, which turns up in Michigan and is traced back to Gary.
April 16, 1984, Gary robs a Wendy’s restaurant in Gainesville, Fla.
April 22, 1984, Gary robs a McDonald’s restaurant in Montgomery, Ala.
April 28, 1984, Gary robs the County Seat Store in the Oaks Mall of Gainesville, Fla.
April 30, 1984, prompted by Sanderson’s call and the gun trace, copies of Gary’s fingerprints arrive at the Columbus Police Department, where one is matched to a print found on the frame of a screen removed from Woodruff’s home.
May 3, 1984, authorities arrest Gary in Albany, Ga.
May 4, 1984, from around midnight until 3:30 a.m., Gary takes investigators on a tour of homes he tells them he broke into. He blames the stranglings on another man.
May 8, 1984, Gary attempts suicide in jail.
May 9, 1984, then Superior Court Judge John Land appoints attorneys William Kirby and Stephen Hyles to represent Gary.
Aug. 28, 1984, attorney August “Bud” Siemon becomes Gary’s lead defense counsel.
Oct. 11, 1984, attorney Bruce Harvey becomes Gary’s co-counsel. Attorney Gary Parker joins the defense team the following December.
Feb. 8, 1985, Siemon files a motion asking Judge Land to recuse himself because he has personal knowledge of the case. Land recuses himself.
May 13, 1985, Judge E. Mullins Whisnant is assigned the case.
May 22, 1985, Siemon files a motion asking Whisnant to recuse himself because he was the district attorney during the stranglings.
May 20, 1985, Whisnant recuses himself and the case is assigned to Judge Kenneth Followill.
Dec. 18, 1985, Parker withdraws as co-counsel after Followill refuses to grant the defense team funds for an investigator.
Dec. 29, 1985, Gary tries to escape from jail.
March 10, 1986, on the day Gary’s trial is to start, he refuses to get dressed and come to court. Harvey files a motion questioning Gary’s competency to stand trial, saying the defendant’s mental health is in decline. Followill orders a psychological evaluation.
March 24, 1986, Gary goes to Georgia Central State Hospital in Milledgeville for his evaluation, but refuses to cooperate with doctors.
April 21, 1986, Followill holds a trial to determine Gary’s mental competency.
April 28, 1986, the jury finds Gary competent for trial.
June 9, 1986, Gary’s trial is set to begin, but Siemon files for a change of venue.
July 2, 1986, Followill decides that instead of moving the trial, the court will bring jurors from Griffin, Ga., to hear the case.
July 7, 1986, Harvey withdraws, leaving Siemon as Gary’s only lawyer.
Aug. 11, 1986, Gary’s trial begins.
Aug. 26, 1986, the jury finds Gary guilty in three of the seven stranglings, though then-District Attorney Bill Smith maintains one perpetrator committed all seven along with the attack on Miller and Schwob. Smith used evidence from the other cases to illustrate a pattern of criminal behavior.
Aug. 27, 1986, the jury sentences Gary to death.
Sept. 25, 1986, Gary moves for a new trial. His motion’s denied the following Oct. 18, and he appeals to the Georgia Supreme Court.
June 26, 1987, the Georgia Supreme Court sends the case back to Columbus, instructing the court here to determine whether Gary had ineffective counsel.
Nov. 4, 1987, Followill holds hearings to determine the effectiveness of Gary’s defense.
June 12, 1989, Followill rules Gary failed to show his counsel was ineffective.
March 6, 1990, the Georgia Supreme court upholds Followill’s ruling and reaffirms Gary’s conviction and death sentence.
Jan. 27, 1995, the superior court of Butts County, Ga., where Gary is imprisoned, rejects one of his habeas corpus appeals.
Nov. 13, 1995, the court rejects another of Gary’s habeas corpus appeals.
Nov. 18, 1997, Gary files a habeas corpus appeal in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia.
Sept. 28, 2004, the federal court rejects Gary’s appeal, and he appeals to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Nov. 9, 2005, then-Coroner James Dunnavant finds a bite-cast mold made from teeth marks on Janet Cofer’s body. It has been missing since Dunnavant’s predecessor Don Kilgore died.
Nov. 23, 2005, the appeals court sends the case back to U.S. District Court to consider the bite-mark evidence.
Feb. 14, 2007, the district court holds a hearing and decides the bite cast would not have bolstered Gary’s defense and again rejects his appeal. Gary again appeals to the 11th Circuit.
Feb. 12, 2009, the 11th Circuit rejects Gary’s appeal. He appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Dec. 1, 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court refuses to hear Gary’s appeal. His execution is set for the following Dec. 16.
Dec. 16, 2009, Gary is hours away from execution when the Georgia Supreme Court issues a stay and sends the case back to Muscogee Superior Court to consider DNA-testing evidence.
Feb. 19, 2010, prosecutors and defense attorneys agree to DNA-test suitable evidence samples, four items from three cases: Dimenstein, Scheible and Woodruff.
Dec. 14, 2010, attorneys say the initial DNA test results match Gary to the murder of Jean Dimenstein but not Martha Thurmond. The defense seeks testing on clothes from Gertrude Miller the morning after she was raped and beaten.
March 6, 2012, tests of the Miller evidence yield a DNA profile that does not match Gary. The prosecution says the defense can’t prove Miller was wearing the garments when raped.
Nov. 21, 2013, District Attorney Julia Slater announces the Thurmond DNA test was tainted at the state crime lab and thus invalid.
February 24-28, 2014, Judge Frank Jordan Jr. holds evidentiary hearings on Gary’s new trial motion.
Jan. 11, 2016, Doug Grubbs, son-in-law of sheriff’s investigator Don Miller, in the attic finds a briefcase containing files on the strangling. He turns it over to the sheriff’s office.
Jan. 27, the defense is told of the briefcase.
Feb. 3, both sides meet to inspect the documents. They find a composite sketch believed to have been drawn as Gertrude Miller described her assailant under hypnosis in October 1977.
Jan. 12-12, 2017, Jordan holds a final set of hearings on the new evidence in Gary’s motion for a new trial.
June 27, the prosecution files a motion asking Jordan to issue a ruling.
Sept. 1, Jordan denies Gary’s motion for a new trial in a 50-page ruling.
Sept. 20, Gary’s attorneys file for an extension of the deadline to appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court.
Nov. 1, the defense files a 90-page application for appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court. The prosecution has 10 days to respond.
This story was originally published November 8, 2017 at 7:20 PM with the headline "‘Stocking Strangler’ Carlton Gary makes final appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court."