In the spring of 1979, a domestic dispute in Cobb County, Georgia, escalated into a brutal double murder that would ultimately lead to the execution of the perpetrator. Linda Gilreath, a 28-year-old White female, was in the process of divorcing her husband of 11 years, Fred Marion Gilreath, Jr. Having recently moved out of their shared home after an argument, Linda had been staying with her mother.
On the morning of May 11, 1979, accompanied by her 57-year-old father, Gerrit Van Leeuwen, Linda returned to the house to retrieve some of her personal belongings. This decision proved to be fatal for both of them.
Concern for Linda's safety grew when she failed to pick up her stepfather from work that afternoon as planned. Her stepfather, aware of Fred Gilreath's previous threats against Linda and her family, contacted the Cobb County police. When officers arrived at the Gilreath residence, they discovered a grisly scene. The bodies of Linda Gilreath and her father were found inside the house. Both had been shot multiple times with different firearms. An investigation revealed that gasoline had been poured around the bodies, indicating a failed attempt to set the house on fire.
The prime suspect, Fred Marion Gilreath, Jr., who was 41 years old at the time, was subsequently arrested. It was reported that he had been drinking on the day of the murders. In 1980, a Cobb County jury convicted Fred Gilreath for the murders of his estranged wife and father-in-law. The prosecution presented evidence of the heinous nature of the crime, and the jury sentenced him to death for both murders. Over the following two decades, Gilreath's case went through numerous appeals. His defense attorneys argued that the murders were the result of a heated domestic dispute and did not involve other felonies like robbery or rape, which they claimed made his case different from others on death row. Despite these appeals, the conviction and death sentence were upheld. On November 15, 2001, Fred Marion Gilreath, Jr. was executed by lethal injection for the murders of Linda Gilreath and Gerrit Van Leeuwen.
