Tor: The couple grips a disasmall southern town.Known
- everyone believed that they were at some risk,
not knowing if this was a random act or if there was something
very intentional here.
- Narrator: With each passing day, the horror grows.
- Jonathan: There was scanner traffic about human remains
found on the blue ridge parkway.
- When you have a body that has been dismembered and burned,
that speaks to a high degree of malice.
- Beth: She said that he just got irate,
that they got into this fight.
- She looked like a woman who had been through hell.
- Narrator: After a string of gruesome discoveries,
a family's darkest secrets are revealed.
- At that time, I believe he denied the affair.
- Beth: She had agreed to pay the money back.
I think it was about 60,000.
- There was no hiding the dislike for each other.
- It was shocking.
I mean, the entire courtroom was shocked.
- Pardon my language, sh-- just got real.
- ♪
♪♪
- narrator: Friday, March 26, 2004.
- [phone rings]
- narrator: The sheriff's office
in henderson county, north carolina,
receives a call from a woman who says
she wants to file a missing persons report.
The woman says it's been 2 days since she's been able to
reach her close friend, 48-year-old don gash.
- She shared with friends and family that she was concerned
about his whereabouts because they'd talked frequently and
visited with each other frequently,
and he was nowhere to be found.
- There was no more communication from him,
so they became more and more concerned.
- Narrator: The woman tells deputies it's not like don
to go off the grid.
- Don gash was the fire chief
of the etowah volunteer fire department, a community icon.
You'd see him at the convenience store.
You'd see him at the Friday night high school football game.
- Jim: Don gash was a good guy, served his community,
loved the kids' community, did things to help other people.
Always friendly. He's just not a guy
that's gonna disappear and stay missing.
- Narrator: Sheriff's investigators open
a missing persons case and begin a search for don.
- Ben: At that time, there really wasn't a whole lot of
leads that we could follow up on.
We had decided to do a health and welfare check
that Saturday morning.
We approached the home and, uh,
were greeted by donn gash, the son.
- Narrator: When detectives ask to speak with don's wife, gail,
they learn that don sr. Isn't the only one missing.
- When we arrived and-- and spoke with donn jr,
he said he didn't know where his mom was.
- Donn gash said that he had last seen his father
on Thursday evening, um, and had not spoken with him since then.
And then had seen his mother, gail gash,
the following morning, Friday morning, and she was asleep.
Later, after he worked,
he also noticed that his own car was missing.
- Narrator: But 31-year-old donn jr. Assumes that his mom
must have borrowed it without asking--
something that wasn't out of the ordinary.
- He was cooperative, but he didn't have as much
information as they thought he should have
about his parents' whereabouts.
He said that he wouldn't see them
for a couple of days at a time.
- Narrator: Investigators ask permission to expand
their search efforts.
- Beth: They had a large amount of acreage.
And mr. Gash, the son,
allowed them to look all over the property.
- Narrator: As police canvass the property,
donn jr. Calls his sister, 27-year-old leslie gash.
- My brother had called and said that the police have shown up.
Mom was missing and dad was missing.
And he was really freaking out.
And I kind of get, you know, woke up by that,
so I'm kind of like, "oh my gosh, what?"
panic, panic, panic. I don't know anything specific.
Just kind of like, "I need to get up there."
there are no words to describe what--that morning,
what I was feeling.
I threw a bunch of stuff together real quickly
and left and got on the road.
- ♪
- narrator: Born in 1955, donald larry gash
came from tumultuous beginnings.
- Jim: He grew up in the mills river,
horseshoe area of-- of henderson county.
- He was actually born out of wedlock and was adopted
by his biological aunt and her husband.
It was really tough in that house.
There was some pretty rough physical abuse
between his parents that he--that he witnessed.
- Narrator: Despite tensions at home,
don grew into a well-adjusted teenager,
active in sports and future farmers of america.
- He was outgoing.
He had a lot of really close friends.
He played football.
He was definitely involved in stuff.
- Narrator: In high school, don became infatuated
with a popular classmate named gail hutchinson.
The youngest of three daughters,
gail was raised in a strict religious household.
- Leslie: She wasn't allowed to go to the movies.
If church was open...
She was to be at church.
- Narrator: But when she fell for don gash,
gail threw caution to the wind.
- Leslie: They started dating in high school.
He was a football player and she was a cheerleader.
My mom got pregnant her senior year
and my dad's junior year.
It was not an option for them to not get married.
Um, so they went to the magistrate
in greeneville, south carolina, and got married.
- Narrator: In October 1972,
the newlyweds welcomed donn jr. Into their family.
Their daughter, leslie,
was born four and a half years later.
And the young family moved onto the 21-acre cattle farm
where don grew up, soon joined by gail's mom.
- My grandmother ended up having a trailer
on the back of our property.
- Narrator: Gail stayed home to raise the kids,
while don punched the clock at the local paper mill.
- Leslie: He made pretty good money 'cause he had worked there
15 years, and he was a part of the union.
So I wouldn't say super well off, but we were comfortable.
- Narrator: But in 1984, those lighthearted days
were suddenly cut short by a tragic event.
- Leslie: My mom's mom's trailer caught on fire
when I was in second grade.
My grandmother at the end of her life became an alcoholic.
She passed out with a cigarette in her hand.
And that's how the fire started.
- Rocky: Don ran out there and got his mother-in-law
out of the mobile home while it was on fire.
Unfortunately, uh, it was a little too late.
And the injuries that she had sustained
prior to him getting her out, she died from it.
For don, he felt like that, if he coulda got there just
a minute earlier or something like that,
it may've turned out different.
Gail just kinda took a down spiral.
- She blamed herself, and that her mother couldn't be saved,
it seems like that changed her as a person,
um, from there on out.
- When her highs were high, it was really great.
And when her lows were low, they were very low.
- Narrator: Three years later, in 1987,
more bad news struck the family.
- John: Don wasn't able to work.
He had developed a tumor on his spine.
- Leslie: At the very beginning, when he was diagnosed,
it was kind of like, you know,
"well, this--this is probably gonna kill you."
you know, and then it was like,
"okay, well, we can do surgery. This could paralyze you."
I remember being a little kid and, you know,
being nosy and finding one of my mom's journals,
and just kind of, you know, how scary that was for her,
how scary that was for my dad.
- Narrator: Surgeons successfully removed the tumor.
But the operation left don permanently disabled.
- After that, he could work a little bit, but he could not,
ah, extensively work over time.
He couldn't sustain the physical kinda work that--
that he was used to doing.
He tried to farm a little cattle,
and just he tried to make ends meet the best way he could.
- Things definitely changed after my dad went out of work
after the surgery.
I definitely saw, you know, a struggle.
- Narrator: To help keep up with the mounting bills,
gail decided to go back to school.
And in 1991, she earned her bachelor's degree.
- Leslie: She ended up going to unca,
which is university in asheville, north carolina.
And she got a degree in psychology.
- Mrs. Gash, she had several different jobs
throughout the community--
department of social services.
Uh, she worked, uh, for a law firm.
- Narrator: As gail thrived in her newfound career,
don followed his own passions
and became an assistant football coach.
He also spent more time at the firehouse.
- Rocky: I saw don compensate
by doing things that he was still able to do.
The fire prevention program was near and dear to his heart.
Mostly because I think what had happened
with his mother-in-law.
- Jim: He spent a lot of time with the youth football,
his farming little businesses, his cattle and his hay,
and the volunteer fire department.
That right there would take up a good bit of your time.
- Narrator: By the end of 2003, after 30 years of marriage,
it seemed don and gail had successfully weathered
all the adversity thrown in their paths.
- However, when no one can reach the couple in March of 2004,
worried family and friends believe they might be in danger.
- Rocky: Don had been missing for a while.
Gail was also missing.
And, uh, that became even more confusing, uh,
for the overall picture, because we--
we truly didn't understand what was going on.
- Leslie: I literally don't remember the drive there,
because it was like a hamster on a wheel.
It was just question after question after question.
- Law enforcement were very motivated to, uh,
work to find out what had happened.
- Narrator: Coming up: Desperation grows with
one terrifying development after the next.
- Beth: It certainly looked as though somebody had made some
effort to hide that they had done something.
- We're looking for somewhere a body could be.
- Beth: It was a large human torso with the head, arms,
legs all cut off.
- Leslie: It was a lot to take in,
a lot to try to absorb, and still at the same time, going,
"this can't be real."
- ♪
- narrator: March 27, 2004.
There's a mystery brewing
in henderson county, north carolina.
Both fire chief don gash and his wife, gail,
have vanished without a trace.
- Greg: When you have more than one missing person,
it just caused a great degree of anxiety,
because I think everyone believed, you know,
that maybe they were at some risk,
not knowing if this was a random act
or if there was something very intentional here.
- Narrator: By now, a team of deputies has fanned out across
the 21-acre gash property looking for the missing couple
and any clues to their disappearance.
- Donn jr. Allowed them to-- to enter the house
and search all throughout the house,
allowed them to go back all over the property.
- We were looking for somewhere
a body could be or a person could be hiding.
- Narrator: Widening their search,
another team heads over to the gashes' barn
about 100 yards behind the house.
- Beth: Detectives located the vehicle
don gash would be driving.
That vehicle was found with
the keys in the ignition in the on position.
The truck was discovered was behind this barn.
Anybody that would drive, um, even to the barn would not have
seen this truck had they not walked behind the barn
and observed it there.
It certainly looked as though somebody had made some effort
to hide the fact that don was gone.
- Narrator: Detectives notice something else near the barn.
- There was evidence of-- of some sort of a burn pile
of some description,
which is not unusual with debris that's--
gets cleared and that kind of thing.
- Narrator: Inside the barn itself,
investigators search for anything out of the ordinary.
- Ben: The barn probably had seen better days.
Not necessarily kept very clean,
but it was functioning for the animals that they had.
- In the barn area, there's a tub that was located--
one of those large, rubber, um, storage containers.
- Narrator: A deputy opens the lid to reveal something
straight out of a horror film.
- It was a large human torso with the head, arms,
legs all cut off.
- ♪
- beth: They could observe that those limbs had been severed
with a sharp instrument.
- Narrator: Investigators are able to discern
that the victim is male,
with a large, unique scar on his back.
- Ben: It was partially scorched.
Looked like somebody had tried to burn the torso
and was unsuccessful, because it takes a lot of heat
to destroy that much, uh, flesh.
- Narrator: With the discovery of a body,
police stop down further investigation.
- We backed off.
And at that point, I was designated to go
write the search warrant.
- Narrator: As authorities secure the scene,
leslie gash steps right into a nightmare.
- Leslie: I'm coming up on the edge of our property.
I see sheriff's deputy vehicles.
And, like, police cars and just a lot of people in uniform,
and everything at my house.
And it was--[gasps]-- yeah.
Pardon my language. Sh-- just got real,
'cause I didn't know what it was,
but I knew whatever that was that I was seeing was not good.
- Narrator: Suspecting that the mutilated corpse
is don gash sr., investigators ask if don
had any distinguishing physical characteristics.
- He had a pretty good-sized scar on his back.
It was still really prominent.
Kenneth gaddy, with the sheriff's department,
he told me that they had found my father's torso...
On the property.
And, um, they knew it was him because of the scar on his back.
After that, it's fog. Haze.
- ♪
- narrator: With don sr. Presumed as their victim,
investigators turn their attention to his wife.
- Everybody wanted to find out where was gail gash.
Was she a suspect or was she also a victim?
- It was a lot. A lot to take in.
A lot to try to absorb, and still at the same time, going,
"this can't be real. Where's mom, though?"
we need answers, and we really weren't getting them.
- Narrator: As investigators broaden their search perimeter,
they make a key discovery.
- The car that was known to be driven by
donn edward gash, the son, was located in a cemetery
probably a half a mile walking distance from the house.
When they looked in the car, there appeared to be blood on
the seats and the steering wheel.
The keys weren't in it.
Who was driving that car? Where are they now?
Why would they park it away from the house
rather than at the house?
Donn gash, the son, told investigators that his mother
was the one he thought had driven that car.
Was she abducted from this car?
Or is she hiding? You know, and nobody knew.
- Narrator: As investigators begin processing the vehicle
for prints and dna,
a search party sets off into the nearby woods.
- Ben: We had used both patrol canines and bloodhounds
to track and find someone that's missing.
We had enough boots on the ground, so to speak,
that we were able to cover all the ground between
where the car was and the residence.
- Narrator: When the search fails to yield leads,
investigators call don sr's children to the station
and put them through critical questioning.
- Leslie: That's when it kind of started with wanting to, like,
separate me and my brother to start asking us questions,
and assuming all of this stuff.
And it was just-- it was really disheartening
and instantly made me angry.
Put me against my mom. Put me against my dad.
Put me against my brother, vice versa.
I just want to find out what's going on, you know,
we wanna help.
- Narrator: While investigators work to clear leslie,
they are becoming more concerned with her brother,
donn jr.
- Ben: At the time, he told us that he had been there
at the home the whole week.
It didn't make sense that someone could be there every day
and not have at least had some concern
that something had happened.
- Beth: He said that he wouldn't see his parents for days
at a time while he is living in this house.
Why would his dad go off for a couple of days at a time
when there's cows and things, you know,
on this property that he maintained and took care of?
- Ben: There were things that
didn't add up with what he was saying.
His behavior that day led the investigators at the time
to take dna and fingerprints.
- Narrator: As detectives look for other possible leads,
news of the brutal murder spreads through town.
- I think the overall reaction of it was just...
No way, disbelief, kind of shock, you know,
"what the heck's going on?"
- it's like, "why? Why would someone do that?"
the don that I knew would never provoke such--such an incident.
There was no way that I could imagine that he would've caused
such rage in--in anybody to do something like that.
- Narrator: The shock felt through the community
is also accompanied by fear.
- That's just not a crime that, you know,
you expect to see anywhere, and not really in this area.
- When you have a body that has been dismembered and burned,
that speaks to a high degree of malice.
That's what, I think, causes
the high amount of concern to the community.
This was a very mean-spirited crime,
and they were wondering if this person or persons were still
at large and if that others would be at risk.
- Narrator: Coming up: As the search heats up,
everything cops think they know about the gash family
is about to be turned upside down.
- It was obvious that they were having trouble
making ends meet.
- There may have been a lot more problems in the relationship
than the public knew about.
- It was just mortifying. Just mortifying.
- ♪
- narrator: On March 27, 2004,
the discovery of don gash's torso,
stashed in his own cow barn,
has all of henderson county clamoring for answers.
- Greg: People want to know if the murder had something to do
with his work as a firefighter or, you know,
what else was happening and occurring in his life
that would have brought about this turn of events.
- Narrator: Adding to the mystery, don's wife, gale,
is still missing.
Hoping for more leads, investigators dig into
the couple's home life.
- Jim: There may have been a lot more problems in
the relationship than the public knew about.
People around in this area,
they don't air their dirty laundry.
They keep things to themselves.
- Rocky: You know, eh, as a husband, ah, you,
you could tell that--ah, that--
that don had some challenges there.
- Narrator: There was a common suspicion in the family about
don's relationship with a close family friend.
- Leslie: My dad and her literally spent
all their time together.
Because my mom worked when I was in high school,
a lot of the times she couldn't come to my events.
But my dad always brought her and, actually,
people thought that was my mom.
- John: Gail was aware. And she actually confronted don.
And at that time, I believe, he denied the affair.
- It was never 100% confirmed by anybody.
My mom was definitely uncomfortable by it,
because they were literally together all the time.
And then after a while, it was just--it was embarrassing.
- Narrator: About four years before their disappearance,
don and gail started sleeping apart.
- Leslie: At first, they tried to blame it on my mom snoring
and my dad grinding his teeth.
Of course that's why they're sleeping in separate rooms.
And then it just kind of became that's what it was.
My mom slept in the room.
My dad slept on, like, the pull-out sofa.
And then that's how it was up until everything happened.
- Narrator: Investigators also discover that gail's suspicion
of infidelity wasn't the only problem plaguing their marriage.
- My parents had gotten behind on their mortgage.
My mom didn't want my dad to lose the property.
And she made a really terrible decision.
- John: Don wasn't making a lot of money,
so gail ended up taking on multiple jobs.
Um, she took one job in particular at a milk plant.
And while she was working at that, um, particular job,
she began stealing money from the organization.
- Leslie: I believe she was the administrative assistant
for the president.
She got a new vehicle.
You know, we got a new stove.
You know, some things we needed for the house.
- John: Subsequently she was caught and charged with, um,
obtaining property by false pretense.
- It was just mortifying. Just mortifying.
- Beth: She had fully confessed to her involvement
in doing that. And I think it was about 60,000.
Don did, um, what he could to help pay off, um, gail's debt.
Ah, but it wasn't enough.
And it was obvious that
they were having trouble making ends meet.
- Narrator: It was then, in 2001,
that the already strained marriage
plunged to an all-time low.
- There was no hiding the dislike for each other.
There was no hiding my dad being up till
1 or 2 in the morning on the phone for several hours.
At that point, it just kind of became like,
"well, who cares?"
- narrator: Armed with a deeper understanding
of don sr.'s personal life,
investigators reach out to the alleged mistress,
who was the first to report don missing.
The woman denies having an affair with don,
but admits they were very close friends.
- She had last had telephone communication with,
um, don the night before, um, he was likely murdered.
Her alibi was that she was home.
She was quickly ruled out as having had any motive in his
death or disappearance.
- Narrator: However, the woman has a message from don
to share with detectives.
- Beth: Don had told her that if he ever went missing
or ever was killed to suspect his wife and his son.
- ♪
- narrator: It's a stunning accusation.
But before investigators can track the new lead,
they receive word of a grisly new development 30 miles away.
- Beth: Limbs and a head were found
off the blue ridge parkway.
They could observe that those limbs had been severed
with a sharp instrument.
- Jonathan: Knowing what we had already heard in the community
about the fire chief, and then the subsequent rumor
that his wife was missing as well,
it seemed to be that it was
all adding up to an obvious conclusion.
- Narrator: The remains found on the parkway are collected
by crime scene investigators.
On March 29, two days after the search for the gashes began,
the body parts are analyzed
and confirmed to be a match to don gash.
- Beth: In looking at the head, the medical examiner was able
to determine, um, that don gash had died of blunt force trauma.
His skull was fractured.
He had received multiple blows to his head and face area.
- Narrator: Serrated marks suggest the body
was dismembered with a saw.
- Beth: The medical examiner determined that any of
the burning and that any of the severing of limbs,
all of that was done postmortem.
- Narrator: Though the autopsy provides more context for don's
murder, investigators are no closer to knowing
who killed him.
Plus, they've still found no sign of gail gash.
- There was no indication that she had been killed.
But there was also no indication yet that she was, um, alive.
- Gail gash was missing. The car that she had been
thought or believed to be driving was found,
um, you know, within half mile of this--
of their house.
And so investigators went, um,
just broaden the search of the area.
- Narrator: Investigators secure a search warrant
for the gash property and surrounding areas.
On March 30, they execute an intensive search.
- They began looking for signs of, you know,
human life around--around there.
And that's what led them to a neighbor's crawlspace.
And they located her.
- Narrator: After more than three days of searching,
police have finally found the second half
of this missing couple.
- She was in a crawlspace under a storage shed.
And she was in--wrapped in a blanket.
- Narrator: Coming up: A discovery of evidence
leaves investigators stunned.
- They turned over the mattress and found copious
amounts of what appeared to be human blood.
- There was an intake of breath at the moment when
first--we first saw it, because it was just so overwhelming.
- ♪
- narrator: On March 30, 3 days after the discovery of
don gash's dismembered torso,
investigators have finally found his wife, gail...
And she's alive.
- She was found hiding under a neighbor's crawlspace.
Neighbor had no idea that's where she had been.
She had been there since, um, the Saturday before.
- Ben: She was in bad shape.
She was cold, and dirty, and all indications that she had not
been back to her home.
- Jonathan: She had been in the elements for several days.
I don't know how she sustained herself.
But she looked like a woman who'd been through hell.
- Narrator: Based on the conditions in which she was
found, investigators doubt gail was anyone's victim.
- Beth: It didn't look like she had been placed there against
her will or anything like that.
It was somewhere where she could go in and out of.
Ah, but it clearly looked like she had been hiding.
- Ben: Sometimes people hide because they've been traumatized
so much, they don't know who to trust.
But certainly, uh, a vast number of people
that hide from law enforcement
is because they committed a crime.
- Narrator: Though investigators are incredibly suspicious
of gail's involvement in her husband's murder,
they won't be receiving any answers from her straight away.
- Beth: She was, I think, suffering from hypothermia.
She was conscious, um, but she would not speak.
She wouldn't talk to them. She was not in good shape.
She was taken immediately to the hospital.
- Narrator: Authorities can only hope a formal search of
the gash farm will fill in the blanks.
- When they did execute a search warrant,
they entered the home.
And there was a pull-out bed in the living room,
which don slept on.
- Beth: Once investigators pulled that couch open, um,
they turned over the mattress and found copious amounts of
what appeared to be human blood, um, on this mattress.
They then did further, deeper search of that room and found,
um, what they thought was probably cast-off type of blood,
um, up there on the ceiling.
- When someone is bludgeoning someone
or hitting them with an instrument, um,
the blood from the victim
gets on whatever weapon is being used and can sling off
as they're bringing the weapon back over their shoulder,
and can splash onto the ceiling, on the side walls,
and that kind of thing.
- Narrator: Assuming they may have found their murder scene,
investigators spray luminol all over the room
and turn out the lights, waiting for the chemical
to glow in the presence of blood.
- Unfortunately, it looked like a starry night.
Just so many illuminations. It lit the room back up.
There was an intake of breath at the moment when, uh,
first--we first saw it, because it was just so overwhelming.
- The amount of blood, um,
indicated that he was killed there.
As far as where he was dismembered,
it's certainly consistent with it occurring there, but it also,
um, could be consistent with the--the wounds to his head
bleeding in that particular location.
- That's when I really got a clear picture of how much
cleanup had had to been done and how much carnage was there.
- Narrator: With evidence that don's murder took place inside
the house, suspicion grows toward the other two residents
of the home: Gail and don jr.
In search of a clear motive,
investigators make a game-changing discovery.
- There's a policy, ah, on don of life insurance--
I believe it was $150,000--
that would benefit gail and the children if don gash died.
- Narrator: Investigators now feel that they have enough to
charge gail with murder.
And when she is released from the hospital on April 1,
that's exactly what they do.
- Beth: The charge against gail gash
was based on circumstantial evidence.
It was based on, um, the fact that she was the one that was
hiding, um, her car that she was driving,
that she alone was the one with this financial burden
and was under that kind of threat of going to prison
if she couldn't come up with this money,
have the life insurance policy on him.
And so when you put all of these circumstances together,
that's what the detectives had to go on and, uh--
and they believed that she had committed the crime of
first-degree murder.
- Narrator: On April 1, 2004,
gail is arrested outside pardee hospital
and is placed in the henderson county jail
under no bond.
- At that point, there was a certain sigh of relief.
- Narrator: Though gail is behind bars,
investigators suspect she didn't act alone.
- John: Gail was a small woman.
And for her to be able to overpower don,
who was much larger than her and much stronger than her,
despite his disability,
I just don't see how it could be done alone.
- Beth: There was a lot of circumstances
that the detectives thought, um, made donn jr.
A likely participant in his father's killing.
Ah, donn was known not to get along very well with his dad.
He was known to get along more with his mother.
Um, detectives believed that gail gash physically could not
have lifted the torso, could not have dismembered him.
You know, how could one person have done this all by herself?
- Narrator: Prosecutors hope this question and more
will be answered in court.
But for now, donn jr. Receives no charges.
- John: At that time, they weren't able to find
any evidence that tied donn jr. To the crime.
- Narrator: Gail's attorneys get to work on her defense.
And one of their first moves aims to combat her husband's
prominence within the hendersonville community.
- There was a motion to change venue.
And this was a--um, a motion based on the--the media swirl
about this homicide.
- Don was put on this pedestal of being, you know,
a pillar of the community, the fire chief,
someone that people respected and looked up to
and could do no wrong.
- Beth: The aim of the defense was to try to get this trial
switched from henderson county to buncombe county.
The concern by the defense was that potential jurors had
already formed an opinion about the guilt of, uh, his client.
Judge marlene hyatt ruled against the defense on that
motion, so we were set for trial in, uh, November of 2006.
- Narrator: Coming up: A community eager for resolution
hears a version of don's final moments.
- She confronted him about some things in their past,
and that they got into this fight.
That he began to assault her.
- Narrator: And lingering suspicions of an accomplice
haunt the courtroom.
- I just don't see how anyone could sleep through that
and not hear anything.
- What we wanted more than anything was for justice
to be served for don gash.
- ♪
- narrator: November 7, 2006.
Just as gail gash's trial is about to begin for the murder
of her husband, don gash, a sudden development
takes the courtroom by surprise.
- John: We all went to court, uh,
thinking that the trial was gonna start that day.
And they came out and announced
that there was going to be a plea deal.
She ended up pleaing to second-degree murder.
- Rocky: I was disappointed.
What we wanted more than anything was for justice
to be served for don gash.
But also, we wanted the truth to be told.
- Narrator: During her sentencing hearing,
gail's defense presents their client's version of events.
- Beth: The defense case was that gail gash and donn gash,
her son, and don gash, the victim,
were all in the house together the night of March 25, 2004.
And that gail gash had gone to put fire on the fireplace.
That don gash had made some advances towards her,
that they got into an argument.
That she confronted him about some things in their past.
And that she said that he just got irate.
That they got into this fight.
That he began to assault her,
and that she grabbed for a piece of wood
and just started beating him about his head.
- ♪
- she said it was like a jack in the box.
Like, he came right back up.
And she remembers hitting him again,
but not really much after that.
- The entire courtroom was shocked: Family, those watching,
you know, everybody.
- Beth: Her version of events was, after she killed him,
she panicked. She didn't know what to do.
She hadn't planned this.
And so she knew that she had to keep this from her son.
That her son was away in his bedroom.
That he would be getting up in the morning, in a few hours,
to go to work.
So she had to hide this body.
She went and got a dolly, put him into a--an area of the house
that nobody went to.
She hid him there and tried to figure out what to do.
That's when she decided she would dismember him.
Took off his--his head, his arms, his legs with a saw.
She went and got a tub, rolled the torso into this tub,
and wheeled it to the burn area,
where she attempted to burn the torso.
- Narrator: But gail's defense claims she became impatient
with the incineration process.
- Beth: It, uh, was taking longer
than she thought it would. So she got spooked
and put his torso back into the tub,
put the tub in the barn.
And then, once she dumped the body parts that were located
off the blue ridge parkway, including mr. Gash's head, arms,
and legs, she then came back.
She parked that car at the cemetery.
She ran to the neighbor's house, to their outbuilding.
And that's where she said she hid for days
until she was found.
- Narrator: Following the defense's presentation,
the prosecution calls donn jr. To the witness stand.
Long suspected to have been involved,
they ask him about the night of his father's murder.
- John: For someone to be asleep in that home while your mother
is bludgeoning your father to death,
and then later dragging his body through the house, I just--
I don't see how anyone could sleep through that
and not hear anything or notice anything.
- Narrator: But donn jr. Testifies that he had
no prior knowledge of the murder nor was he involved.
- Donn gash, though, was never charged with any crime.
There was never any actual evidence that we found
that tied to him to any part of this.
- Narrator: Leslie gash takes the stand in her mother's
defense, testifying that her dad could get easily agitated.
- Leslie: Towards the end, my dad was drinking a lot.
I know that that was an issue.
When the goods were good at home, they were really good.
And when the bads were-- at home were bad,
they were really, really bad.
- Narrator: At the conclusion of the hearing,
and as a part of her plea,
gail is sentenced to 15 years in prison,
leading to a general air of disappointment
within the community beyond the courtroom walls.
- John: People definitely didn't think justice was served.
They felt like the story of don sr.'s murder wasn't told.
They felt the facts weren't put out there for everyone,
you know, to hear, and that gail did not get the sentencing that
they felt she deserved.
- Narrator: But for the gash family, the tragedy is twofold.
- The tragedy is a family that completely was torn apart.
The tragedy is a man that had so much to give to the community,
was denied giving it, uh, in his--his later years.
- It was just a sad thing. I felt really bad for the kids.
I'm sure it was something that the kids deal with to this day.
- Leslie: Even, like, sitting here, I'm still kind of like,
"why am I doing this?"
I think it's just because
for so long, it's--
we really couldn't say anything.
It wasn't all terrible at home.
There were some good times. There was a lot bad.
My mom is not a terrible person.
And how these actions, these choices, you know,
that were made, whether it was 25 years ago of not getting a
divorce or, you know, 30 years ago, or ever getting married,
or, you know, that all those actions have consequences.
Whether you're a woman, a man, a kid,
and you're in any form of a bad relationship, get out.
Talk to somebody.
Don't stay quiet, because I promise you it just--
it's not like it just poof, goes away one day.
It--it doesn't. It has long-lasting effects.
- ♪