A Mississippi mother’s dark secret behind a 𝒻𝒶𝓀𝑒 wall has finally come to light—and now she’ll spend the rest of her life behind bars.
Jerri Roby, 69, pleaded guilty to the murder of her own son, 42-year-old John Gaither, in a case that rocked Gulfport. According to court documents, Gaither vanished in December 2023, and his brother reported him missing after days of silence.
When investigators first questioned Roby, she claimed her son had taken an Uber out of state to buy a car. Around the same time, Gaither’s stepmother received a letter supposedly from him, saying he’d gone to meet a woman in the Philippines.
But authorities found no recent activity on Gaither’s Uber account. As they dug deeper, they uncovered a chilling past: Roby had been convicted in 1995 for a deadly shooting in Florida, where she reportedly shot a woman in the head and kept the body in her car for days.
Roby gave permission for a search of her property, and that’s when the evidence began stacking up. A Home Depot receipt showed purchases of sand, straw, tape, and a dumpster bag—all bought the week before Gaither was reported missing.
More 𝒻𝒶𝓀𝑒 letters arrived in early 2024, but family members didn’t believe they were real. A search warrant led police to a 𝓈𝒽𝓸𝒸𝓀𝒾𝓃𝑔 discovery: a 𝒻𝒶𝓀𝑒 wall inside Roby’s home, hiding a wooden box. Inside lay Gaither’s body, wrapped and concealed.
An autopsy revealed he had been shot in the back of the head. When officers tried to arrest Roby, she allegedly swallowed prescription pills and was rushed to the hospital.
After her release, Roby reportedly admitted to forging letters and texts pretending to be her son, even convincing her boyfriend to make phone calls pretending to be Gaither. She said she shot him to “put him out of his misery” because of his depression.
But then she told a different story—claiming Gaither shot himself in the head, fell into the box, and she covered him with the supplies from Home Depot.
Roby was indicted in May 2025 for first-degree murder and being a felon in possession of a firearm. Her boyfriend, 86-year-old Robert Wayne Tannehill, was also arrested for hindering prosecution after allegedly helping with the Home Depot run.
On July 22, Roby pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison.
What could have motivated a mother to build a hidden tomb for her own son—and keep a dark secret from her past?