"The Interview the Department of Corrections Did Not Want You to Hear": 11Alive on the Day of Carlton Gary's Execution, 2018

Name: "The Interview the Department of Corrections Did Not Want You to Hear": 11Alive on the Day of Carlton Gary's Execution, 2018
Uploaded: 2018-03-15T00:00:00Z
Duration: 3 min 24 s
Description: Hours before Carlton Gary's scheduled execution, 11Alive's Brendan Keefe reported live from outside the prison with excerpts of the phone call Gary made to the station the day before, and explained why the state and the Columbus authorities had turned the station away.

Hours before Carlton Gary's scheduled execution, 11Alive's Brendan Keefe reported live from outside the prison with excerpts of the phone call Gary made to the station the day before, and explained why the state and the Columbus authorities had turned the station away.

Subject: Carlton Gary
Recorded: about March 15, 2018
Runtime: 3:24

Content warning: Refers to the rape and murder of women in Columbus, Georgia, in the late 1970s and to an imminent execution. No graphic detail.

The Interview

This is a 3-minute-24-second 11Alive (WXIA-TV, Atlanta) live report broadcast on March 15, 2018, the day Carlton Gary was to be executed, and posted by the station that day. After an anchor's introduction, chief investigator Brendan Keefe, outside the prison in Jackson, presents excerpts of the telephone interview Gary gave the station the day before. Gary is heard for about 32 seconds; his wife and 11alive.com investigator Jessica Noll are also heard on the call.

Historical Context

Between 1977 and 1978 seven women were strangled in Columbus, Georgia, in the "Stocking Strangler" killings. Carlton Gary was arrested on May 3, 1984. On August 26, 1986, he was convicted of the murders of Florence Scheible, Martha Thurmond and Kathleen Woodruff, and he was sentenced to death the next day. He maintained his innocence for more than three decades, and later DNA testing was disputed by both sides. He was executed by lethal injection at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson on March 15, 2018, at 10:33 p.m.

Circumstances

Keefe says the Department of Corrections had refused the station's requests to interview Gary, so Gary arranged a phone call through his wife. He also says the Columbus district attorney and police had refused to let the station see the case file because they considered it "still an open case until Carlton Gary is dead," and that the Department of Corrections removed Noll from the execution witness list because of the call.

What the Interview Covers

Gary says: "The only thing I want anybody to know about Carlton Gary is the truth." Noll asks whether he raped or killed the women and whether he had anything to do with their murders; his answers are not legible in the machine text. His wife says "they knew when they arrested him, before they arrested him, that he was innocent." Keefe notes that a survivor identified Gary but that later tests of her clothing found someone else's DNA; Gary says police "did that woman wrong," that she saw him on television surrounded by police, and that she waited 27 more days before reporting.

What Makes the Recording Significant

It is the execution-day report of the station that obtained Gary's last interview, and it records the station's account of being refused access by the state and the local authorities.

Important Caveats

Gary is heard for about 32 seconds, and some of his words are uncertain in the machine text. His statements and his wife's are claims of innocence; he was convicted of three murders, and his appeals were exhausted. The anchor's "raped and murdered seven women" goes beyond the three convictions. The surviving witness is not named in this clip and must not be named on the page. The anchor is addressed only as "Melissa."

Anchor: A serial killer is scheduled to be executed tonight at Georgia's state prison in Jackson at 7 p.m. Carlton Gary is known as the Stocking Strangler, a killer who raped and murdered seven women in Columbus, Georgia, in the late 1970s. 11Alive chief investigator Brendan Keefe is live just outside the prison in Jackson with an exclusive interview of the condemned man.

Brendan Keefe: And Melissa, this is the interview the Department of Corrections did not want you to hear. We asked to interview the convicted serial killer, but the state turned down those requests. Carlton Gary reached out to 11alive.com investigator Jessica Noll, asking to speak to her over the phone through his wife, spending some of his last breaths telling his story just hours before his appointment with the executioner.

Carlton Gary: The only thing I want anybody to know about Carlton Gary is the truth. You may not like this, because I'm telling you the truth, but I'm just going to tell [the excerpt ends here]

Brendan Keefe: The convicted Stocking Strangler, in his own words, from behind the walls of Georgia's death row.

Jessica Noll: Did you rape those women? [about 01:06 to 01:09: no speech rendered by either machine source; in the full call Gary answers "Absolutely not."]

Jessica Noll: Did you kill those women? [about 01:11 to 01:13: no speech rendered; in the full call his answer is "Absolutely [inaudible]."]

Jessica Noll: Did you have any knowledge or anything to do with their murders? [about 01:17 to 01:18: no speech rendered; in the full call his answer begins "Absolutely nothing."]

Brendan Keefe: That's 11alive.com investigator Jessica Noll asking the questions. Carlton Gary asked his wife to set up the phone call, proclaiming his innocence as he has for decades, but this time just hours before his scheduled execution.

Debra Gary: The truth is, he's innocent, and, and they knew when they arrested him, before they arrested him, that he was innocent.

Brendan Keefe: Gary was arrested in 1984. He was convicted in three of the seven Stocking Stranglings. A survivor identified him as her attacker, but later tests of her clothing revealed someone else's DNA.

Carlton Gary: They did that [unclear: "for a" (Whisper) / "poor" (V258)] woman wrong. [unclear: "A" (Whisper) / "That" (V258)] woman did not know what was going on. She did not have a clue as to what happened, [unclear: "and we saw her on TV. We saw me on TV" (Whisper) / "And when you saw me on TV" (V258)] surrounded by, again, all of these Caucasian police, and they identified me, as you just said, as the so-called [unclear: "Saudi stranger" (Whisper); V258 has "Southside Strangler" / "Sandra Strangler"; possibly "Stocking Strangler"]. She [unclear: "still waiting" (Whisper) / "still waited" (V258)] 27 more days before she reported this.

Brendan Keefe: All of his appeals exhausted, Gary is still clinging to the evidence that he says proves the state is about to kill an innocent man. [about 02:22 to 02:32: no speech rendered by either machine source; possibly a pause or natural sound, possibly further phone audio.]

Brendan Keefe: Well, if you're wondering why we only have one side of the story, we asked the DA in Columbus and Columbus police to look at the case file months ago. We were turned down because, amazingly, they consider this still an open case until Carlton Gary is dead. Tomorrow morning we can look at the case files, when there's nothing more that can be done. One more note: Jessica Noll was supposed to be a witness here, but the Department of Corrections, because we talked to Carlton Gary over the phone, pulled her from the witness list. 11Alive will be outside the gates instead. At six o'clock, we'll take a look at the evidence. Brendan Keefe, live in Jackson.

Anchor: All right, look forward to hearing more about this. Certainly a very important interview to hear tonight. Thank you. You can watch and hear Brendan's full investigation on the Stocking Strangler, our exclusive hour-and-a-half interview with Carlton Gary, online at 11alive.com. When you land there, just look under the Investigator section. ---