4A
Nation
CARLTON GARY TIMELINE
This timeline was compiled from Columbus
police, court records and Ledger-Enquirer
archives:
THE 50S
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.
THE 60S
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, Garys charged with
breaking into an automobile in Gainesville,
Fla.
March 17, 1968, Garys charged with
arson in Gainesville, Fla.
Nov. 26, 1969, Garys charged with
assaulting a police officer in Bridgeport,
Conn.
THE 70S
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. Garys fingerprint is found at the
scene. Gary claims another man killed
Farmer, and is convicted only of robbery.
July 15, 1970, Garys sentenced to 10
years in prison for robbery.
March 31, 1975, Gary is released from
prison and moves to Syracuse, N.Y.
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 Garys
DNA to the cold-case evidence.
July 25, 1975, Garys charged with escape,
resisting arrest and violating parole.
July 17, 1976, Garys released on parole.
Sept. 3, 1976, Garys 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
Frosts 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
Yorks 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
FROM PAGE 1A
GARY
burglar, who patiently
took doors off their hinges
and once disassembled a
deadbolt lock improperly
installed. In one break-in
he removed burglar bars
from a window and set
them aside.
In the wake of Millers
assault, police soon saw
the horrors to come as
four women ages 59
through 89 brutally were
beaten, raped and stran-
gled from Sept. 16 through
Oct. 25, 1977, with more to
follow.
Desperately seeking a
suspect, detectives on Oct.
29, 1977, brought a hyp-
notist to see Gertrude
Miller, who under his spell
described the intruder she
saw when he turned on a
bedroom lamp.
Detectives took the
sketch, dated Oct. 31,
1977, and filed it away.
Though Garys defense
attorney questioned Miller
about it at the 1986 trial,
when she identified Gary
as her assailant, the sketch
was never shown to the
jury. It faded into the volu-
minous data that now
constitutes the Stocking
Strangler case file until
the briefcase turned up.
Now Martin wants it in
evidence for Garys new
trial motion. This suspect
looks nothing like the
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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
Garys 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. Sandersons
son Henry is visiting. The intruder steals
his Toyota, which has a .22-caliber Ruger
pistol under the seat. The cars 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
Goldens 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 cars left at a restau-
rant 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 burglar-
ized 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
Schwobs home on the west side of
Wildwood Park, is found raped and
strangled with a cord cut from window
blinds. Her bodys covered with a garment.
This series of rapid events becomes known
as The Night of Terrors. Feb. 8, 1985, Siemon files a motion asking
defendant, he wrote Aug.
9. He has asked Jordan to
hold a hearing on it.
Everythings on hold
until the judge rules on
this composite, Martin
said last week.
Should Jordan hold a
hearing on the sketch, it
further may delay an aging
criminal case so often
extended before.
District Attorney Julia
Slater argued that the
depiction is irrelevant.
Miller herself said it didnt
look like the man who
raped her, and even if the
sketch wasnt displayed
during Garys trial, the
defense knew it existed
and questioned her about
it on cross-examination.
Besides that, Gary
wasnt convicted of as-
saulting Miller, Slater
noted. Like other attacks
on older women in which
Gary was implicated but
not charged including
four of the seven stran-
glings the Miller case
was used at his trial as a
similar transaction,
evidence of Garys pattern
of criminal conduct.
Martin has countered
that because then-District
Attorney Bill Smith main-
tained in 1986 that Gary
alone committed all of the
assaults and stranglings,
any evidence clearing him
6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
107 41st Street
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 Cofers 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 Ryans
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 Jacks Steak House
in Greenville.
Feb. 15, 1979, having earned the nick-
name 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.
THE 80S
March 15, 1984, he escapes from a prison
in Columbia, S.C., and returns to Colum-
bus.
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 Wendys
restaurant in Gainesville, Fla.
April 22, 1984, Gary robs a McDonalds
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 Sandersons
call and the gun trace, copies of Garys
fingerprints arrive at the Columbus Police
Department, where one is matched to a
print found on the frame of a screen
removed from Woodruffs 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 Garys lead defense
counsel.
Oct. 11, 1984, attorney Bruce Harvey
becomes Garys co-counsel. Attorney Gary
Parker joins the defense team the follow-
ing December.
District of Georgia.
in one case casts doubt on
the others.
Casting doubt on Garys
guilt has become a crusade
for his supporters and
others opposed to the
death penalty.
LAST CHANCE
Today Gary is 65 years
old, no longer the sleek,
fashionable defendant
who went on trial back in
the 20th century. He re-
mains on death row in the
Georgia Diagnostic and
Classification Prison in
Jackson, waiting to see if
Martins last-ditch effort
can gain him another
chance.
My sense is that this is
Carltons last chance,
said British writer David
Rose, author of the 2007
book The Big Eddy
Club, which championed
Gary as the victim of a
racist judicial system that
withheld exculpatory evi-
dence to ensure his con-
viction.
Rose signed on as an
investigator for Garys
defense team to research
the book and today main-
tains contact with those
involved.
My views on the case
have never changed, he
said during a recent tele-
phone interview.
Asked about Garys
well-being, Rose said:
Hes not doing too good
physically, and not very
happy. An attempted
escape at the prison about
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
strangling.
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 Garys trial is
to start, he refuses to get dressed and
come to court. Harvey files a motion
questioning Garys competency to stand
trial, saying the defendants mental health
is in decline. Followill orders a psycholog-
ical 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 Garys mental competency.
April 28, 1986, the jury finds Gary
competent for trial.
June 9, 1986, Garys 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 Garys only lawyer.
Aug. 11, 1986, Garys 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 motions 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, in-
structing the court here to determine
whether Gary had ineffective counsel.
Nov. 4, 1987, Followill holds hearings to
determine the effectiveness of Garys
defense.
June 12, 1989, Followill rules Gary failed
to show his counsel was ineffective.
THE 90S
March 6, 1990, the Georgia Supreme court
upholds Followills ruling and reaffirms
Garys 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 Garys habeas corpus appeals.
Nov. 18, 1997, Gary files a habeas corpus
appeal in U.S. District Court for the Middle
found in the briefcase.
10 years ago prompted
administrators to clamp
down on the time inmates
get outside their cells, he
said.
Rose said Martins De-
cember motion is Garys
best shot at escaping lethal
injection, a fate he already
dodged once before.
Its one of the strongest
legal motions Ive ever
seen, the author said.
And the sketch would
only bolster it, said Martin:
I thought we had a com-
pelling case already. This
was just gravy.
DODGING THE NEEDLE
The last time Gary nar-
rowly escaped death was
Dec. 16, 2009, when the
Georgia Supreme Court
issued a last-minute stay
of his execution, sending
the case back to Muscogee
Superior Court to consider
DNA-testing suitable evi-
dence.
After reviewing the
evidence, prosecutors and
defense attorneys on Feb.
19, 2010, agreed to test
SUNDAY AUGUST 28 2016
LEDGER-ENQUIRER.COM
THE 00S
Sept. 28, 2004, the federal court rejects
Garys 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 Cofers body. It
has been missing since Dunnavants
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 Garys defense and
again rejects his appeal. Gary again appeals
to the 11th Circuit.
Feb. 12, 2009, the 11th Circuit rejects
Garys appeal. He appeals to the U.S.
Supreme Court.
Dec. 1, 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court
refuses to hear Garys appeal. His execution
The defense was aghast:
is set for the following Dec. 16. The Thurmond evidence
Dec. 16, 2009, Gary is hours away from
had been the most promis-
execution when the Georgia Supreme
Court issues a stay and sends the case back ing, more likely than any
to Muscogee Superior Court to consider of the rest to yield a clean
DNA testing evidence.
DNA profile.
The error had a second-
ary effect: If the GBI
THE 10S fouled the Thurmond
Feb. 19, 2010, prosecutors and defense
attorneys agree to DNA test suitable
evidence, who could say
the Dimenstein test was
evidence samples, four items from three
cases: Dimenstein, Scheible and Woodruff. accurate? Perhaps it also
Dec. 14, 2010, attorneys say the initial
was tainted.
DNA test results match Gary to the murder
of Jean Dimenstein but not Martha The forensic evidence
Thurmond. The defense seeks testing on has become a muddle that
clothes from Gertrude Miller the morning
after she was raped and beaten. fogs the pattern of Garys
March 6, 2012, tests of the Miller evidence life of crime, much of
yield a DNA profile that does not match
Gary. The prosecution says the defense which Smith laid out dur-
cant prove Miller was wearing the ing the 1986 trial.
garments when raped.
Nov. 21, 2013, District Attorney Julia Thirty years ago, the
Slater announces the Thurmond DNA test evidence against Gary was
was tainted at the state crime lab and thus
invalid. not as much forensic as
February 24-28, 2014, Judge Frank Jordan circumstantial: matters of
Jr. holds evidentiary hearings on Garys place and time that if
new trial motion.
coincidental, were re-
June 16, 2015, defense files briefs based
on the hearing.
markably so:
Aug. 17, 2015, the state files its response
to the defense. Wherever Gary went,
Nov. 6, 2015, the prosecution files its older women were raped
motion opposing a new trial.
Dec. 11, 2015, the defense files its and strangled.
response to the state.
Jan. 11, 2016, Doug Grubbs, son-in-law of
sheriffs investigator Don Miller, in the THE TIMELINE
attic finds a briefcase containing files on Born Sept. 24, 1950, in
the stranglings and turns it over to the
sheriffs office.
Columbus, Gary at age 16
Jan. 27, the defense is told of the brief- moved with his mother to
case.
Fort Myers and later Gai-
Feb. 3, both sides meet to inspect the
documents. nesville, Fla., before head-
April 29, defense files motions based on ing to New York, where
the briefcase evidence. It amends its
motions on May 30, Aug. 9 and Aug. 11. the trail of assaults attri-
Aug. 19, the prosecution responds, leaving buted to him began:
Judge Jordan to decide whether to hold an
A On April 14, 1970,
evidentiary hearing on a composite sketch
Nellie Farmer, 85, was
found raped and strangled
and her body left covered
in her home in the Wel-
four items from three of lington Hotel in Albany,
the seven stranglings for N.Y. Police found Garys
DNA. The hope was that
this would settle Garys
guilt or innocence once
fingerprint at the scene.
Gary claimed another man
killed Farmer and was
and for all. convicted only of robbery.
Instead it caused more He was released from
confusion: prison March 31, 1975, and
On Dec. 14, 2010, at- moved to Syracuse, NY.
torneys said the initial A On June 27, 1975,
DNA test results matched Marion Fisher, 40, was
Gary to the Sept. 24, 1977, found raped and strangled
rape and strangling of Jean on a road just outside
Dimenstein, but not the Syracuse. Investigators in
Oct. 25, 1977, murder of 2007 said they matched
Martha Thurmond. The Garys DNA to the cold-
defense then sought test- case evidence. Unknown
ing on clothes police col- to local authorities at the
lected from Gertrude time of Garys 1986 trial,
Miller the morning after this is not in evidence
she was raped and beaten. here.
On March 6, 2012, at- A On Jan. 2, 1977, Jean
torneys said tests of the Frost, 55, was raped and
Miller evidence yielded a nearly choked to death in
DNA profile that did not her home in Syracuse.
match Gary. Gary had a watch taken
On Nov. 21, 2013, Slater from Frosts home when
announced the Thurmond police arrested him two
DNA test was tainted at days later. Again he
the state crime lab and blamed another man for
thus invalid. The flawed the assault. He was
test used up the crime
scene sample police had
collected. SEE STRANGLINGS, 5A