MS Coast mom indicted for murder in killing of son found in box at Gulfport home
A Florida ex-convict has been indicted on felony charges of first-degree murder and possession of a firearm by a felon after allegedly killing her son and hiding his body in a box in her South Mississippi home.
A Harrison County grand jury returned the indictment in May against 68-year-old Jerri Lynn Roby, a convicted felon who previously served time for manslaughter in Florida and has used a series of aliases over the years.
If convicted of both charges in Mississippi, she could go to prison for up to life plus up to 10 years for the Dec. 10, 2023, shooting death of her son, John Allen Gaither, 42.
Since her Jan. 20, 2024 arrest, Roby has been jailed without bond in Harrison County. Her arraignment is set for June.
Gulfport police made the arrest after they searched Roby’s home and found Gaither’s body inside a wooden Armour-style box behind a makeshift wall, a boarded-up door, and a window sealed shut in a room. Police found his body wrapped in polyurethane plastic, with some of his clothes, sand, and mulch — materials they traced to purchases Roby made during two recorded trips to Home Depot, including one with her 86-year-old boyfriend, Robert Wayne Tannehill.
Police arrested Tannehill on a charge of hindering prosecution.
The investigation began after Gaither’s stepmother and other relatives filed a missing person report on Gaither after he stopped contact after Dec. 10, 2023, now believed to be the day his mother allegedly shot him in the back of his head.
During the subsequent investigation, Roby repeatedly lied about what had happened to her son in an attempt to convince relatives and police that her son was still alive.
Roby forged her son’s handwriting in a letter sent to relatives and sent them bogus text messages and photos from his phone to indicate he was OK, police said. She also came up with fictitious stories about her son, even claiming that he had gone on a trip to Louisiana or fled to Mexico to save a woman from a drug cartel.
But as detectives, led by Gulfport Police Detective Justin Clifton, continued to investigate, they found other surveillance footage, bank withdrawals that Roby made from Gaither’s account, other digital receipts tying her to the crime, and Gaither’s car at the 6th Street home he lived in with Roby.
Gaither’s family and police suspected foul play because they knew Roby had killed before, the first time in Boca Raton, Florida, in 1993, when she shot Christina P. Racey in the back of the head and kept her body in a car for days before Roby’s capture. She served time in prison for that and was living in Gulfport with Gaither at the time of his death.
In subsequent interviews, Roby admitted she lied repeatedly to delay the investigation and keep police from finding her son’s body. She later confessed to mailing a forged letter from Florida to make it seem more credible and said she had practiced forging Gaither’s handwriting using hundreds of samples found in her home.
Investigators collected other evidence during the investigation to show that Gaither’s last known sighting was on Dec. 10, 2023.
Those sightings included camera footage and time stamps showing Gaither spending some of that morning at the storage unit where he kept cars to work on and a second stop at Ollie’s on Pass Road, where he bought a red tote and some cleaning supplies.
Roby’s criminal history dates back to her 1993 conviction for manslaughter in Florida for shooting a woman, Christina P. Racey, in the back of the head before later dumping her body in a river, according to court records. Roby served seven years of a 17-year sentence for the crime.
Roby later relocated to Mississippi.
When Gulfport police asked Roby what the motive was for killing her son, Roby told investigators, “That’s what a trial is for.”
Harrison County authorities are also holding Roby on a warrant from Palm Beach, Florida, for trafficking the controlled substance oxycodone.
Over the years, Roby has used several aliases, including Jeri Lynn Israel, Jerry Lynn Gaither, Jerri Lynn Wynn and Jerri Lynn King.
