Mississippi Woman Sentenced to Life for Killing Son and Hiding His Body Behind False Wall
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Mississippi woman Jerri Roby has pleaded guilty to the 2023 murder of her son, John Gaither.
Jerri Roby, 69, and her son, John Gaither, 42, lived together on the 2200 block of 16th Avenue in Gulfport, Mississippi. In 2023, Gaither, who usually kept in regular contact with friends and family, suddenly went silent.
After Gaither's brother had not heard from him for some time, he reported him missing. Around this time, Gaither's stepmother received a letter, supposedly written by Gaither, stating that he had traveled to the Philippines to meet a woman. Believing something was wrong, she also contacted police.
According to loved ones, it was unusual for them not to hear from Gaither, who they said usually checked in every day. They became even more concerned when they received text messages and images from Gaither's cell phone that they believed had not been sent by him, as well as various stories from Roby about where he was.
The Gulfport Police Department conducted a welfare check at Roby's residence on December 22, 2023.
When questioned about her son's whereabouts, Roby told authorities that he wanted to purchase a vehicle in Louisiana and had called an Uber. She said she hadn't seen him since. Investigators later determined that no Uber had been ordered from Gaither's account around the time Roby claimed.
Five days later, investigators conducted follow-up interviews and noticed Roby's statements did not line up and changed often. Eventually, investigators said, she became uncooperative.
When they looked into Roby's history, they discovered that in the early 1990s she had killed a woman in Florida by shooting her in the back of the head. Roby, who was known as Jerri Lynn Israel at the time, had kept the woman's body in her vehicle, where it remained for several days before being discovered. She was convicted of manslaughter and served a prison sentence. Upon her release, she and Gaither relocated to Mississippi, where they eventually settled in Gulfport.
On the morning of January 18, 2024, police arrived at Roby's property to execute a search warrant. Investigators recovered a Home Depot receipt from a Gulfport-area store listing items including a dumpster bag, bags of straw, sand, and Roll & Seal tape. The items had been purchased approximately one week before Gaither was reported missing by his brother.
Inside the front portion of the house, investigators discovered a false wall concealing a large wooden box. Inside was Gaither's body. The materials used to conceal his remains corresponded with those listed on the Home Depot receipt.
According to WLOX, following the discovery, Roby ingested pills and had to be transported to a nearby hospital, where she survived. She was later questioned again after being discharged.
An autopsy later revealed that Gaither had died from a gunshot wound to the back of the head.
WLOX reported that during her interview, Roby admitted she had written the letters sent to family members that were supposedly from Gaither. She had even convinced her 86-year-old boyfriend to pretend to be Gaither during phone calls, at one point taking Gaither's phone to Florida so it would ping off cell towers in the area.
One of the letters Roby sent to Gaither's father and stepmother read:
"Have you by chance heard from John? His workplace, in Florida calls as he didn't show up on Monday there in Panama City. He checked out of his room at Town Place last Friday."
Two days later, on January 20, 2024, the Gulfport Police Department announced the arrest of then-66-year-old Jerri Lynn Roby, charging her with one count of first-degree murder.
In May 2025, a grand jury indicted Roby on charges of first-degree murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
On July 22, 2026, Roby pleaded guilty to first-degree murder before being sentenced to life imprisonment.
At her plea hearing, Roby claimed she shot her son "on the spur of the moment," saying he was depressed and that she wanted to "put him out of his misery."
District Attorney Crosby Parker said:
"Today, this 69-year-old defendant pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and will spend the remainder of her life in prison. We hope today's guilty plea and sentence provide a measure of justice, accountability, and closure for the victim's loved ones and all those affected by this heartless crime."
