A Gulfport mother will spend the rest of her life in prison after pleading guilty to killing her son and hiding his body inside their home.
On Wednesday, Jerri Roby, 69, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the 2023 killing of her son, John Gaither. Circuit Court Judge Randi P. Mueller accepted the plea and sentenced Roby to life in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections.
The case began in late December 2023, when Gaither’s brother contacted the Gulfport Police Department and reported he had not heard from Gaither in about a week. Police opened a missing person investigation.
Investigators spoke with Roby, who Gaither was living with at the time. Roby told police that Gaither had left in an Uber to travel to Louisiana to purchase a vehicle. However, police checked his Uber account and found no activity during that time.
Gaither’s stepmother, who lived out of state, later contacted police and said she had received a letter allegedly written by Gaither saying he was traveling to the Philippines to meet a woman.
As investigators continued looking into Gaither’s disappearance, they discovered Roby had used several aliases and had a prior murder conviction in Florida dating back to 1995.
Because of the unusual circumstances and inconsistencies in Roby’s statements, investigators returned to her residence and obtained consent to search the property.
Inside a garbage can, investigators found a Home Depot receipt showing Roby had purchased 15 bags of sand, two rolls of patch-and-seal tape, straw, and a dumpster bag. The purchase was made about a week before Gaither was reported missing.
Investigators later determined Roby had made another trip to the same Home Depot, where she purchased additional plastic sheeting, soil, and tape.
In early January 2024, Gaither’s stepmother and brother contacted police again, saying they had separately received phone calls, text messages, and a letter they believed were not actually sent by Gaither.
On Jan. 18, 2024, the Gulfport Police Department obtained a search warrant for Roby’s residence.
As officers removed Roby from the home, she swallowed a large number of pharmaceutical pills and was taken to the hospital for treatment.
During the search of the residence, investigators found a false wall that had been constructed in the front portion of the home. After breaching the wall, investigators discovered a large wooden box inside the room.
Inside the box, police found Gaither’s body covered in material similar to the items Roby had purchased from Home Depot. A subsequent autopsy determined Gaither died from a gunshot wound to the back of his head.
After she was released from the hospital, Roby was interviewed by investigators. According to Assistant District Attorney Matthew D. Burrell, who prosecuted the case, Roby admitted she forged letters sent to family members that appeared to be from Gaither, sent text messages pretending to be Gaither, convinced her boyfriend to call family members while pretending to be Gaither, and took Gaither’s cellphone to Florida so it would connect to different cellular towers.
However, Burrell said Roby told investigators that Gaither had shot himself, fell into the box, and that she then covered him with sand, dirt, and straw she purchased from Home Depot.
During her plea hearing, Roby finally admitted that she shot Gaither “in the spur of the moment” to put him “out of his misery” because he was suffering from depression.
Judge Mueller rejected Roby’s explanation, saying she did not believe her account of what happened. The judge pointed to Roby’s preparations, including purchasing materials, and her statements to police after Gaither’s disappearance as evidence that the killing was planned.
