Whitmore Charged With Murder

WHITMORE

Posted By: Ken Wright (email)
Date: 2/14/2009 at 09:09:17

Jackson Sentinel
November 21, 1979

Husband Charged in Fatal Shooting

Gary Whitmore of rural Preston was charged by Jackson County Attorney Mike Kane with first degree murder Tuesday in connection with the death of Whitmore’s wife, Debbie.

Whitmore, 25, allegedly shot his 21-year-old wife with a shotgun shortly before 4 a.m. while the couple was in their trailer at Copper Creek Village outside of Preston.

Whitmore was arraigned before Magistrate Graham Moyer shortly after 10 a.m. on charges of first degree murder.

Moyer set bond at $100,000 cash or surety bond and ordered Whitmore returned to the custody of Sheriff Bob Lyons to be held in the Jackson County Detention Center.

During the arraignment Whitmore was shaking noticeably. Court-appointed attorney Sokol said he believed his client was near shock and requested that he be taken someplace warm soon.

Whitmore appeared without any shoes or socks at the arraignment. Bureau of Criminal investigation officials reportedly asked that they be removed when Whitmore was jailed following his arrest Tuesday morning.

Sokol indicated he would request both a bond reduction and preliminary hearing shortly. No date of time had been set at press time Tuesday.

County Attorney Mike Kane along with a Preston Police official appeared at the arraignment. Also present were Sheriff Bob Lyons and Deputy Bill Deppe.

According to a trailer park resident, Whitmore fled the trailer park with his wife but put his Chevrolet pickup in a ditch on the Goose lake blacktop near the Preston County Shed.

He was arrested there at about 4:30 a.m. by Jackson County Deputy Larry Clausen and Preston Policeman Brad Licht.

“He was in a field (in his pickup), bent over the steering wheel, sobbing with his wife’s head in his lap,” Licht said.

Law officials were not saying when Mrs. Whitmore died – whether she was alive or not when the truck went into the ditch. Jackson County Sheriff Bob Lyons said the incident was “an apparent homicide.”

The Whitmore’s had lived at Copper Creek Village for about six to seven months and had been married a little over a year, according to Ruth Petersen, who owns the trailer park with her husband, Clifton.

Mrs. Petersen was taking care of the three young boys in the Whitmore family. They are ages one, two and four. The two older boys are from Mrs. Whitmore’s earlier marriage.

She said she was surprised by the incident. “They were a young couple,” she said.

Mrs. Petersen said the couple didn’t fight “any more than any other couple.”

“There’s another thing that surprises me: She was a wonderful housekeeper and he’s good outside. They were very neat,” she said.

“He is a tall nice looking guy and she was a small, pretty girl,” Mrs. Petersen said.

Clayton Mohr, a resident of the trailer court, was with the Whitmore’s when the shooting occurred, according to Mrs. Petersen.

He was being questioned Tuesday morning by sheriff department officials and agents of the Department of Criminal Investigation, which is assisting local law officials.

Curt Marzofka, another resident, told the Sentinel that Mohr came to his trailer at about 3:45 a.m. and related what had happened at the Whitmore trailer.

“Clayton got me up. He was down there when it happened,” Marzofka said.

“When we came out the door (of the Marzofka trailer), he (Whitmore) saw us and kept going” in his pickup truck out of the trailer court and onto a gravel road leading to Highway 64.

Marzofka said he got his 12-gauge shotgun and fired a slug at the pickup. He said he thought he hit the right rear tire of the pickup, which veered into a shallow ditch and then went back onto the road.

Whitmore drove the pickup south, across the highway and onto the Goose Lake Road. About a mile down the road, near the county shed, the truck went into the ditch.

Marzofka said he went to the Whitmore trailer, which he described as a “mess” with blood. He said Mrs. Whitmore might have been shot while she sat on a couch.

“He wasn’t mad at her. They just got home from work and were just goofing around,” Marzofka said, “It doesn’t seem like it would happen.”

Whitmore worked at Central Steel in Clinton. His wife had worked at Swift Co. in Clinton, having started there recently, Mrs. Petersen said.

She said Mrs. Whitmore’s brother, Dan Beschen of Joliet, Ill., was suppose to pick up the Whitmore children Tuesday.

She said she thought Mrs. Whitmore’s parents lived in Erie, Ill. And that Whitmore’s parents were from Dubuque.

Mrs. Petersen said she was called by Marzofka’s wife, Mary, at about 4 a.m.

They were woke up by Clayton who told them what happened. Mary called me and told us that there was a shooting down there (at Whitmore’s),” she said.

“I heard him take off and heard Curt shoot at the tires.

“He (Whitmore) threw her in the truck. There was somebody else in the truck I heard but I don’t know the name.” she said. Law officials declined to confirm if someone else was in the pickup with the Whitmore’s.

Mrs. Petersen said she called the Sheriff but added that Whitmore may have called first.

Dr. J. A. Broman said Tuesday at noon that the cause of death was from a shot gun wound.

He said that the time of death was about 4 a.m. as far as he could tell.

Dr. Broman said that Dr. Jose Acosta would do the autopsy Tuesday afternoon. Dr. James Cahill of Preston did the preliminary examination.