MS Coast mom charged in son’s death was fugitive from justice in Florida in the 1990s
A Gulfport woman accused of killing her son and stuffing his body in a wooden box first served time for a Florida homicide in the 1990s.
Jerri Lynn Isreal, 66, is currently jailed in Harrison County on a first-degree murder charge in the death of her son, John Allen Gaither, 42.
Since the arrest, the Sun Herald reviewed court records and other filings to get a detailed history of Isreal’s run-ins with law enforcement over the years.
The search outlines the criminal history of Isreal after police found a big box containing Gaither’s remains at Isreal’s home on 16th Avenue near 22nd Street.
The discovery of Gaither’s body came in the aftermath of her reporting that Gaither was missing, authorities said.
Isreal filed the missing person report after pressure from Gaither’s father and another family member to do so, an official involved in the investigation said. Gaither’s last known sighting was on Dec. 10, and his mother reported him missing on Dec. 22.
During the investigation that followed, Gulfport police said Israel made several conflicting statements about her missing son, and that ultimately resulted in police obtaining a warrant to search her home in the 2200 block of 16th Avenue in Gulfport.
According to Harrison County Coroner Brian Switzer, Gaither’s body was covered in clothes and other trash in a large box against a wall in a bedroom at the home. It was concealed by a large piece of some type of wood sheet, possibly plywood, in such a way that the wood looked like the actual wall in the room.
Gaither’s body, Switzer said, appeared to have trauma to the head, and autopsy completed late Monday showed in died of a single gunshot wound.
Search warrant
Gulfport police learned during the missing person investigation that Isreal had spent time in a Florida prison for murder and decided to get a search warrant for her home on 16th Avenue near 22nd Street.
After the body was discovered, Switzer said the woman said she wanted to grab her medicine before she accompanied Gulfport police to the station for questioning. Instead of grabbing her medicine to leave, Switzer said, Isreal ingested a bunch of pills and had to be taken to the hospital for treatment.
She is now being held in Harrison County on a first-degree murder charge, and the investigation is continuing. In addition to the mother and son living at the home, Isreal had an older boyfriend who had been staying there but wasn’t around at the time of the search.
A records check shows Isreal had various run-ins with law enforcement for decades.
Multiple names
She was known for using various names over the years and usually sought out men with money that she could purportedly live off of and steal from, relatives told authorities.
She had lived in different parts of Florida, Maryland and South Carolina over the years before making her home in Gulfport.
She spent most of her time in Florida in different cities, such as West Palm Beach, Union, Silver Springs, and Langley Park, though she also spent time in parts of North Carolina at times.
Israel started getting in and out of trouble, mostly during her time in Florida, where she spent time in and out of jail or prison for drug possession and drug trafficking.
But in July 1993, Isreal, who then went by the name of Jerri Lynn Gaither, became the suspect in the shooting death of a woman Isreal reportedly bought the prescription painkiller, Percodan, from.
Isreal shot and killed her alleged dealer, Christina P. Racey, 44, of Boca Raton, Florida, in July 1993, the records show. Isreal first tried to blame a then-boyfriend for the killing, but he was later cleared of any wrongdoing.
According to the records check, Isreal shot and killed Racey over her jacking up the prices to buy the prescription pills.
Murder arrest
After the killing, Isreal drove around for days with the woman’s body in the trunk of her car before dumping the body in Indian River County, Florida, according to a report in the Sun Sentinel.
After her arrest for first-degree murder in Racey’s death, a Florida judge granted Isreal a $100,000 bond, but she jumped bail after her release. The Florida Highway Patrol arrested Isreal on June 5, 1995, after stopping a leased car she was driving for having a phony plastic tag.
A few months later, Isreal went before a judge in Palm Beach County, Florida, where she pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of second-degree murder in the killing. A judge sentenced her to serve 17 years for Racey’s murder.
A judge in Palm Beach County, Florida, sentenced Isreal, then known as Gaither, in 1995 to serve 17 years in prison for a reduced charge of second-degree murder in Racey’s killing.
Since then, Isreal, who used various other names over the years, ended up in Mississippi, and her son, Gaither, had started living with her. Those who lived near the family said Isreal seemed nice but said she and her son mostly kept to themselves and were usually spotted doing things in the yard.
An older man has also been living at the home with Isreal in Gulfport, though his identity is not yet known. Meanwhile, the homicide investigation is continuing, with other arrests possible.
66-year-old woman charged with murder after police find body in box at Gulfport home
