'I figured it was time': Gregory Malarik's girlfriend testifies she helped him leave crime scene

The then-girlfriend of Gregory Malarik, a Cantonment man accused of killing his wife two decades ago, took the stand Thursday and told jurors she had given Malarik a ride home from a crime scene and helped him get rid of evidence.

However, the testimony of another witness indicated Malarik may not have been the person who pulled the trigger.

Gregory Malarik is charged with first-degree murder in the 2001 death of his wife, Sherri Malarik. His trial began Tuesday in Pensacola.

Sherri Malarik's body was discovered Sept. 22, 2001, inside a van parked in a Winn Dixie parking lot. She was reportedly crumpled on the passenger seat floorboard with two gunshot wounds to her head.

Investigators did not have enough evidence to arrest Gregory until March 2020, when Gregory’s girlfriend, Jennifer Spohn, gave new information about the death during an interview in exchange for immunity.

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On the third day of Malarik's trial Thursday, Spohn told the prosecution that she admitted in 2020 to telling investigators that she picked up Gregory from Winn Dixie the night before Sherri's body was discovered.

After the prosecuting attorney Amy Shea asked Spohn why, Spohn responded, "Because I'd been carrying this for a long time, and I figured it was time."

The interview occurred in West Frankfort, Illinois, on March 6 and 7, 2020, the day of and day after Gregory was arrested by the Escambia County Sheriff's Office and charged with murdering his wife.

Spohn told investigators that when she got to the Winn Dixie on Sept. 21, 2001, Malarik exited the driver side door of the van Sherri's body was found in and she him back to his home.

"Along the way he rolled down the window, he dropped the wig, the rest of the stuff was in the back seat in the back of the car," Spohn said. "I drove him to his house, he said to give him a few minutes and I needed to get rid of all the stuff in the back."

She later recounted that she dropped off a lawnmower she'd borrowed and then drove home. A few hours later, at 1 a.m., Spohn said she drove down Quintette Road and threw everything in the back seat off a bridge.

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"At the bridge I waited and no cars showed up," Spohn said on the stand, "so, I took everything and threw it over the bridge."

The "stuff" in the back seat were bags that Gregory allegedly gave Spohn when she picked him up from Winn Dixie hours earlier. Spohn told the court she only saw a few things in the bag.

"I know there was a CB radio, there was some other small items, and then the gun," Spohn said.

Spohn never said the gun she threw over the bridge was the .25 caliber gun investigators say was used to kill Sherri. Gregory was alleged to have a .25 caliber gun, but the gun was never recovered and no witness testimony confirms he ever owned that type of gun.

Earlier in the trial, Malarik's children gave testimony that the last time they saw their mother Sept. 21, 2001, she said she was going outside to talk to Malarik.

A chemist at the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Lab reported gunshot residue was found on Malarik's hands the day Sherri's body was located.

However, the defense later brought Chris Deyton to the stand, a Winn Dixie night stocker who was at work the night Sherri was murdered.

He testified that he and other employees had been outside taking a break when they witnessed someone approach the van.

"About five minutes into break, we heard two people arguing," Deyton told the court. "A guy pulled up to a lady in a red van.

"He got out of a Ford Festiva, the Ford version of a Yugo, he got out and approached the window," Deyton continued. "We started talking again and we heard three what sounded like firecrackers."

Deaton said the employees didn't think anything of it since "the kids from Tate like going down there and throwing fireworks."

The defense also asked if the man he saw was Gregory Malarik and he said, "No, the gentleman had short hair and was thinner."

Malarik's murder trial is scheduled to end Friday.

Benjamin Johnson can be reached at bjohnson@pnj.com or 850-435-8578

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Sherri Malarik cold case: Cantonment man's girlfriend testifies