In the fall of 1977, a palpable sense of fear gripped the city of Columbus, Georgia, as a series of brutal attacks began against elderly women. One of the victims in this terrifying crime spree was Florence Scheible, an 89-year-old white woman. Nearly blind and reliant on a walker to move about her home, she was among the most vulnerable residents of the community.
On October 21, 1977, her life was violently taken, a tragedy that would remain officially unsolved for years, leaving a community on edge and a family devastated just days before what would have been her 90th birthday.
The investigation into her death revealed a deeply disturbing crime scene. Florence Scheible had been raped, beaten, and strangled with one of her own stockings. Her son and his wife made the horrific discovery, finding her lifeless body covered in her own home. This murder was part of a string of similar assaults and killings in the Wynnton neighborhood, where an attacker targeted older women who lived alone. The perpetrator would force his way into their homes in the evening, sexually assault them, and then strangle them, often using their own stockings as a weapon. The consistent and brutal nature of these crimes led the media to dub the unknown assailant the 'Stocking Strangler.'
For six years, the identity of the 'Stocking Strangler' remained a mystery, and the cases grew cold. However, a breakthrough came in May 1984 when a stolen gun was traced back to Carlton Michael Gary. This connection led to his arrest, and fingerprints found at four of the crime scenes, including Florence Scheible's home, were matched to him. Gary was subsequently indicted for the murders of Florence Scheible, Martha Thurmond, and Kathleen Woodruff. Although he was suspected in a total of nine attacks, which resulted in seven deaths, prosecutors focused on these three cases.
In August 1986, a jury found Carlton Gary guilty on three counts of malice murder, three counts of rape, and three counts of burglary. He was sentenced to death for the murders. Over the next three decades, Gary's lawyers filed numerous appeals, arguing his innocence and citing evidence that they claimed was not available at the time of his trial. Despite these efforts, state and federal courts repeatedly upheld his convictions. On March 15, 2018, Carlton Gary was executed by lethal injection, bringing a final, somber close to a dark chapter in Columbus's history that began with the tragic death of Florence Scheible and other innocent women.
