Wife Found Guilty of Killing Husband

GILMER — A jury on Friday found an Ore City woman guilty of murdering her 10th husband. According to the Longview News-Journal, Gordon Maxwell’s family members cried as they embraced each other Friday afternoon outside of Upshur County’s 115th District Court, minutes after a jury pronounced Sharon Maxwell guilty. Testimony in the trial revealed Maxwell was shot repeatedly while lying in his bed, his body wrapped in covers, dumped in his truck, doused with gasoline and set on fire August 30, 2011.

According to testimony in the case, after Maxwell returned home from work Aug. 30, he and his wife took her two children to Ore City High School and returned home. District Attorney Billy Byrd suspected Gordon Maxwell may have told his wife during the ride that he intended to leave her.

Gordon Maxwell’s body was found in a burning vehicle. He had been shot four times in the head while lying in the couple’s bed. Sharon Maxwell admitted she dragged his body from the bed, through the house, across the back porch and to his truck where she poured gasoline on it. She also threw bullets inside the truck, Byrd said, to make it look as if the bullets in his head were a result of the fire.

The punishment phase of the trial is set to begin on today.