Jerri Lynn Isreal allegedly murdered her son, put his body in a wooden box and hid it behind a false wall at her home in Gulfport, Mississippi. The photo on the left is her mug shot from the Harrison County Adult Detention Center after her arrest. The photo on the right is from the Florida Department of Corrections where she served two prison terms: One from a 1993 murder of her alleged drug dealer and the other for trafficking drugs in 2012.
A 66-year-old woman previously convicted of murder after driving around with a body in her trunk is now accused of killing her son and then hiding his body behind a false wall in a Mississippi home.
The Gulfport Police Department arrested Jerri Lynn Isreal for first-degree murder in the death of her 42-year-old son John Allen Gaither, the agency said Saturday in a press release. The investigation began Dec. 22 when officers received a call about a possible missing person at a home in the 2200 block of 16th Avenue. As detectives investigated further, they noticed several discrepancies in Isreal’s statements, according to the department.
“Throughout the course of the investigation, Isreal became increasingly uncooperative and changed her statements multiple times,” the press release said.
Police learned that Isreal was convicted of a 1993 murder in Palm Beach, Florida. Isreal killed a woman and drove around with her body in her trunk, the Palm Beach Post reported at the time.
With this information, investigators obtained a search warrant for Isreal’s home. On Thursday investigators found Gaither’s body in a wooden box that was placed behind a false wall in the home, the press release said. Cops did not release a cause of death nor did they reveal a motive behind the killing. Detectives took Isreal to the Harrison County Adult Detention Center where she is being held without bond.
Anyone with any information regarding this incident is urged to contact the Gulfport Police Department at 228-868-5959 or Mississippi Coast Crime Stoppers at 877-787-5898.
Isreal, then known as Jerri Gaither, served a 17-year sentence after her second-degree murder conviction in Florida. Isreal shot 44-year-old Christina P. Racey to death in July 1993 and then drove around with her body in the trunk, dumping the body in Indian River County, Florida. Authorities found Isreal walking along a remote road with a gun in her hand on July 13, 1995, threatening to commit suicide.
She initially tried to blame her boyfriend, saying he killed Racey over drugs and ordered her to dump the body. Police arrested him for murder, but the charges were later dropped. A grand jury indicted Isreal for murder, and she skipped town after she posted a $100,000 bail.
Investigators said at the time she would use well-to-do men for their money and steal their expensive belongings and then leave, giving her the funds to elude authorities. She was on the run for nearly two years until a Florida Highway Patrol trooper pulled Isreal’s vehicle over near Orlando in June 1995 and arrested her, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported.
She later pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was released from prison in 2003. Isreal then pleaded guilty for attempted trafficking illegal drugs in 2016 and was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
