Carlton Gary

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Carlton Gary
Carlton Gary in custody
Background information
Birth name:	Carlton Michael Gary
Alias(es):	Stocking Strangler, Carl Michaels, Michael David
Born:	December 15, 1952 Columbus, Georgia
Penalty:	Death
Killings
Number of victims:	7
Span of killings:	1977 through 1978
Country:	U.S.
State(s):	Georgia, New York
Date apprehended:	May 3, 1984

Carlton Michael Gary (born December 15, 1952)^[1] is an African-American serial killer convicted of the murders of seven elderly women in Columbus, Georgia from 1977-1978. He is believed responsible for several more in Albany and Syracuse, New York.

[edit] Murders

Soon after Carlton Gary moved to Albany, two elderly woman were beaten, raped, and strangled. One died, the other survived. Carlton Gary was brought to the polices attention after a mugging that he did to an elderly woman, after the earlier attacks, in her home, throwing her to the ground by the neck, and running off with her purse. Gary blamed a robbing accomplice for the rape and murder of the retired teacher after police lifted his finger print from her home. He then admitted robbing the apartment around the time of the rape and murder of an 85-year-old retired school teacher. Gary admitted seeing the woman on the ground, but pinned it all on his accomplice, whom he testified against in court. He was never charged with rape and murder mainly because he told the police that he had left the building and that the rape and murder must have occurred while he was outside wating for his accomplice. The Albany police department charged his accomplice with the crime. Later on, the accomplice was acquitted after further investigation.

Carlton Gary moved to Syracuse after getting out of prison in 1976, two more elderly woman were attacked, raped and strangled in their homes. One died, the other survived. Both attacks occurred within four days of each other. The two survivors were not able to identify Gary positively as the crimes occurred in the dark; at least one victim was sure that her attacker was a mustachioed black male, and she was strangled with a scarf. Gary was never charged for any of these crimes. He was sent back to prison for parole violation and robbery after he was caught trying to sell coins stolen from same apartment building as one of the surviving Syracuse victims. Gary escaped from his low security prison and made it back to Columbus, Georgia.

Gary is alleged to have raped and/or murdered seven elderly woman between 1977-78 in Columbus. Known as the Stocking Strangler, in three of the cases he was convicted of beating, sexually assaulting and strangling the victims, mostly by using stockings. Two of the survivors testified that he strangled them into unconsciousness before raping or, attempting to rape them. The one Georgia survivor positively identified him as her attacker in court, however she had previously positively identified 3 other black men as the attacker and in her initial statement had indicated that it was to dark to even distinguish the race of the attacker.^[2] Sometimes Carlton Gary would just attack and kill his victims, as is the case in his strangulation murder of the director of the Education Division of the Columbus Health Department. His standard modus operandi was to rape and murder his victims. Gary's oldest victim was 10 days from her 90th birthday, his youngest supposed victim was 55 years old.

His fingerprints were found at four of the crime scenes. All of his victims were elderly white women who lived alone. He also robbed banks and restaurants in and around Georgia. When, during an attempted robbery of a South Carolina restaurant, a female employee stated that his gun wasn't loaded, he fled the restaurant and was apprehended stuck in a swamp behind it. Gary was indicted for the murders on May 5, 1984^[3], convicted on August 26, 1986 and sentenced to death the following day.^[4] He is currently on Georgia's death row awaiting a final appeal.

[edit] Questions over conviction

Questions have been raised over the strength of Gary's conviction^[5]. Gary's lawyer was refused state funding to carry out a defence. Initially, Gary's fingerprints were not held to match the crime scene prints until 7 years after, when the case was re-examined. Gary's interview at which he supposedly confessed was not recorded, nor were notes taken, and Gary's confession was written by a police officer in the days following the interview, from his own recollection. When submitted as evidence, the confession was unsigned and undated, and Gary denied having made it. Gary's semen antigen secretion did not match the perpetrators. Furthermore, a cast made from a bite wound on a victim did not match Gary's, but this evidence was withheld from trial by the prosecution. An appeal hearing concluded that Gary had been denied his Constitutional right to due process, but refused leave to appeal. However, in 2007 Carlton Gary was positively linked through DNA to another rape and murder case, that of 40 year old Marion FIsher in 1975 in or around Syracuse New York. This cold case's resolution has opened the doors into other unsolved homicides in the area that Carlton Gary may be linked to as well. This 100% positive identification of Carlton Gary in the strangulation and rape of Marion Fisher in 1975 is strikingly similar to the other homicides Gary was convicted of and helps to close the door on even the most desperate of his defenders.

[edit] References