Global InformationMarvin Gabrion information
Marvin Gabrion | |
|---|---|
| Born | Marvin Charles Gabrion October 18, 1953 United States |
| Criminal status | Incarcerated |
| Conviction(s) | First degree murder (18 U.S.C. § 1111) |
| Criminal penalty | Capital punishment (Death) |
| Details | |
| Victims | Convicted: Rachel Timmerman Suspected: Robert Allen, John Weeks, Wayne Davis, and Shannon Timmerman. |
| Country | United States |
| State(s) | Michigan (federal jurisdiction) |
| Imprisoned at | United States Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri |
Marvin Charles Gabrion (born October 18, 1953) is an American murderer, rapist, and suspected serial killer convicted of the 1997 kidnapping and murder of 19-year-old Rachel Timmerman, of Cedar Springs, Michigan. Timmerman and her 11-month-old daughter, Shannon, disappeared two days before Gabrion was set to stand trial on rape charges filed by Rachel the previous summer. Rachel's body was found in Oxford Lake, weighted down by cinder blocks. Shannon remains missing, but is presumed deceased.[1][2] Although Gabrion was not tried for killing Shannon, court documents describe her murder as “virtually undisputed.”[3]
Gabrion is also the prime suspect in the disappearances and murders of several other people, including an additional witness who was set to testify against him in the trial for rape, his handyman, another potential witness and family friend, and an unknown man. The bodies of these people, who were witnesses to his case, are yet to be found, but various items belonging to them were recovered from his home.[4][5]
The case received national attention both for the brutality of the crime and for the controversial sentence. Michigan abolished the death penalty in 1846, but as Timmerman's body was found within the Huron–Manistee National Forests, a federal government-owned forest; the murder was therefore also a violation of U.S. federal law, which authorizes the death penalty irrespective of local state law.[6] Gabrion, who was tried in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan, thus is the first person sentenced to death by a federal court located in a non-death penalty state since the federal death penalty was reinstated in 1988.[7]
- ^ "Court of appeals affirms death penalty for Gabrion". Cedar Springs Post. June 7, 2013.
- ^ Agar, John (May 28, 2013). "Marvin Gabrion's death penalty reinstated in 1997 killing of young mother". MLIVE.
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charley projectwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Court divided on Marvin Gabrion death penalty appeal". The Grand Rapids Press. March 14, 2008.
- ^ "First Federal Death Sentence in Non-death penalty state overturned". Death Penalty Information Center. Retrieved May 16, 2014.