Toledo, OH: Man held after call leads to wife's body

Friday, August 13, 2010 02:50 AM
BY COLLIN BINKLEY

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH


In a calm and steady voice, Walter Gary told a fire dispatcher early yesterday that he probably had killed his wife the night before and left her lying on the floor of her Columbus home as he fled to Toledo to stay with his sister.

"We got in a fight," said Gary, 49. "I messed her up pretty bad."

The phone call led paramedics to 85 Stornoway Dr. W. in the McNaughten Commons condominium complex on the Far East Side. Rescuers arrived about 9a.m. and found Helen Gary, 59, dead on her living-room floor.

Police in Toledo found Mr. Gary at his sister's house and are holding him until Columbus police pick him up on a warrant that charges him with murder.

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The cause of Mrs. Gary's death hasn't been determined, but it appeared that there had been a minor struggle, said homicide detective James McCoskey.

Mr. Gary told the dispatcher that he had left his wife's body about 11 p.m. Wednesday.

His neighbor, Candace Willis, returned home from vacation about that time and saw him smoking on his back porch. He greeted Willis and her husband before getting in his car and driving away.

"We just kind of crossed paths," she said. He looked calm, and nothing seemed strange, she said.

Neighbors said the couple mostly kept to themselves, but they said the Garys had struggled with their relationship. Willis said she occasionally heard yelling, but never enough that she felt the need to call police.

Records show no domestic-violence charges against Mr. Gary.

But other friends said he had been a drug user who could be abusive to his wife. The Garys met in a drug-recovery group, friends said.

Jeannette Marsh said she became close with Mrs. Gary after meeting her in a Narcotics Anonymous program. She was often there to help Mrs. Gary when things went sour with her husband.

The Garys were married in 2005 but were on-and-off, and she had kicked him out of the house three weeks ago, Marsh said.

On Tuesday evening, Marsh got a call from Mrs. Gary, who said she was afraid to spend the night at her house because her husband had threatened to kill her, Marsh said. That night, Mr. Gary told a friend, Brack Goolsby, that he didn't want to see his wife because he would kill her if he did, Goolsby said.

Court records show Mr. Gary has been in prison at least four times since 1984. Time served wasn't for violent crimes, but for such things as theft and breaking and entering. Friends said he'd had a job through a temp agency but had been fired three weeks ago.

Goolsby said Mrs. Gary recently left her job as a receptionist at Mount Carmel East hospital.

Carmen Robinson, who lives a few doors down, said Mrs. Gary was quiet and kind.

Willis had similar memories of her neighbor. She was disturbed that only a thin wall separated her from her neighbor's death.

"It's frightening because you just never know what's going on next door," she said.

cbinkley@capital.edu