On the quiet New Year's Day of 1981, a horrific scene unfolded within a home in the small community of Delmar, Iowa. Jason Edward Roling, an 8-year-old White male, was found deceased, not from a tragic accident, but from a calculated act of violence. He was not the only victim. Alongside him, lay his mother, Bonnie Gilbert, 34, and his siblings, 13-year-old Dawn Roling and 10-year-old Michelle Roling.
The carnage extended to his younger half-siblings as well, Gene Gilbert Jr., who was only 2, and 1-year-old Rachelle Gilbert. The entire family had been shot in the head as they slept.
The discovery was made by Clinton County sheriff's deputies who had arrived at the residence for an entirely different and grim purpose: to inform Bonnie Gilbert of her husband's death. Gene Gilbert, the children's father and stepfather, had taken his own life in Yale, South Dakota, a distance of roughly 450 miles from the family home. It was upon entering the house to deliver this news that the deputies stumbled upon the devastating scene of the six deceased family members.
The investigation that followed pointed to a grim and heartbreaking conclusion. The primary and only suspect in the mass murder was Gene Gilbert himself. An unemployed construction worker, Gilbert had reportedly been under a great deal of stress and had made prior threats against his family. The evidence suggested a murder-suicide scenario. A. 38-caliber handgun found next to Gilbert's body in South Dakota was determined to be the same weapon used to end the lives of his wife and the five children. Although he left a suicide note, it offered no explanation or motive for the slayings, leaving a community in shock and a family destroyed without a clear reason why. No other suspects were ever identified, and no arrests were made in connection with the deaths of Jason Edward Roling and his family.
