Death made to look like suicide, state says at ex-police chief’s trial
Posted on Tuesday, September 9, 2008
EL DORADO — After shooting his wife in the head as she slept in their bed, former Fordyce Police Chief Doug Gill repositioned a. 38-caliber revolver to make it look like a suicide, a prosecutor said Monday as Gill’s trial got under way.
The prosecutor said Gill then left for work at Georgia-Pacific, arriving 50 minutes later than usual, returned home at lunchtime and called 911, saying it looked like his wife of 16 years, Sandra Kaye Gill, had shot herself in the head.
Gill, accused of capital murder four months after his wife’s March 22, 2007, death, faces life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted. The trial was expected to last all week, although Circuit Court Judge Carol Anthony told jurors the trial was moving quicker than anticipated.
Gill’s defense attorneys said the death was a suicide, as he wasn’t home at the time.
Sandra Kaye Gill’s death shocked many in Fordyce. The Gills were well-known in the Dallas County town of 4, 287, where Gill served as police chief in the early 1990 s and the couple taught Sunday School at First Baptist Church.
In opening arguments before jurors in Union County, where the trial was moved, Prosecuting Attorney Robin Carroll said the barrel of the gun was inside Sandra Kaye Gill’s left arm, prompting “red flags” from investigators.
Carroll also said gunshot residue was found on Gill’s clothes, placing him at the crime scene. Moreover, Carroll said neighbors heard a gunshot as early as 3 a.m. the day Sandra Kaye Gill died, nearly three hours before her husband said he left her safely before going to work.
“The defense will tell you she was suicidal, but not a single witness will testify to that,” Carroll said.
Carroll said Sandra Kaye Gill had a vacation planned, was working on a graduate degree, was expecting a grandchild, had strong religious beliefs and hated guns.
Gill’s attorney, Dale Adams of Little Rock, painted a different picture. He said Sandra Kaye Gill was stressed out and was working long hours.
“Doug Gill is an innocent man,” Adams said. “This is a tragedy for two reasons: the death of Kaye Gill, and the fact her husband, Doug, has been charged in her death. We ask that you end this nightmare for Doug and let him go about his life.” Adams described Sandra Kaye Gill as a perfectionist whose family had a history of suicide. He also said the gunshot residue could have gotten on Gill’s clothes when he discovered his wife’s body.
Sandra Kaye Gill was on her third marriage, Gill his fourth. The couple didn’t have children together, but both had children from other marriages.
Hinting at a possible motive, Carroll said Gill had come into a large sum of money after his father died and bought a large home for himself and his wife in Fordyce. However, the money was beginning to run low, Carroll said, and Gill was $ 10, 000 behind on payments to his mother’s nursing home.
Carroll said the night before her death, Sandra Kaye Gill had discovered that her husband hadn’t paid the nursing home bill in four months. She called her husband from the nursing home angry. An argument ensued, Carroll said.
Gill told authorities he spoke with his wife the morning she died for about an hour before going to work because she was upset.
By 10: 30 a. m., he received a call at work informing him that his wife had missed a 9 a.m. dentist appointment. He called and left two messages to check on her before coming home, his hard hat still on his head, Adams said.
But authorities testified Monday that the crime scene didn’t look like that of a suicide.
Chief Deputy Cary Dunn of the Dallas County sheriff’s office testified that he didn’t think the gun, cupped inside her left arm, could have gotten in that position had she pulled the trigger.
Moreover, he testified, it’s extremely uncommon for a woman to shoot herself in the head. Even if she did, a gun of that caliber would have probably kicked or recoiled and landed toward her back or even off the bed, Dunn said.
Special Agent Rick McKelvey, the Arkansas State Police investigator handling the case, testified that the location of the gun and the position of Sandra Kaye Gill’s body in a sleeping fetal position drew red flags.
Dallas County Coroner Tom Tidwell testified that rigor mortis — the stiffening of the body after death — had set in Sandra Kaye Gill’s body by 1: 30 p.m. and that it generally takes between eight and 12 hours for that to happen.
Because of the rigor mortis, and because of statements from neighbors who said they heard a gunshot at 3 a. m., Tidwell estimated that she died about that time.
However, on cross-examination from defense attorney Jim Wyatt, Tidwell said rigor mortis can set in within six hours under normal conditions, meaning she could have died as late as 7: 30 a.m. Doug Gill was at work at 5: 50 a.m.
The state’s final witness, Fordyce Mayor William Lyon, testified he woke up about 2: 45 a. m., as he does every morning, and read the newspaper.
The mayor, who lives a few blocks from the Gills’ home, testified that he heard a gunshot and looked at the clock. It read 3: 08 a.m.
“I heard a shot, and thought to myself: Who in the world could be spotlighting deer at this hour ?” Lyon testified. “I made a mental note of the time about noon, when I had been informed she was dead.”
FEEDBACK:
Something to say about this topic? Submit a Letter to the Editor online
