On November 9, 1990, 48-year-old William Robert Gray was found shot to death in his Germantown, Maryland, apartment. He had been shot in the chest and neck with a pistol. At the time of his death, Mr. Gray, a male, had recently separated from his wife, Josephine Gray, and was in the process of removing her as the beneficiary on his life insurance policies.
The investigation into William Gray's murder led police to his estranged wife, Josephine, and her housemate, Clarence Goode.
It was discovered that Josephine Gray had a history of suspicious deaths surrounding her husbands, earning her the moniker "the Black Widow." Her first husband, Norman Stribbling, was found shot to death in 1974. Josephine, who was then known as Josephine Stribbling, and William Gray, with whom she was having an affair, were initially charged with conspiracy in Stribbling's murder, but the charges were later dropped. Despite being a suspect in William Gray's murder, Josephine went on to collect over $54,000 from his life insurance policies.
Years later, the case was revisited, and Josephine Gray was charged in connection with the deaths of both of her husbands. A co-worker of Josephine's testified that she had admitted to being involved in William Gray's murder. While she was not convicted of murder, in 2002, Josephine Gray was found guilty of mail and wire fraud for intentionally causing the deaths of William Gray and a subsequent boyfriend, Clarence Goode, to illegally collect on their life insurance policies. She was sentenced to 40 years in prison for these crimes. The court found that since she had committed premeditated murder, she should be sentenced based on the guidelines for first-degree murder rather than fraud.
