Meet, Marry, Murder - Season 1, Episode 35 - Gellatly - Full Episode | Forensic Files

NARRATOR: A chilling 9-1-1 call about an armed attacker. LORI JACKSON: He's trying to break into the house.
I have two kids I'm trying to protect. That's one of the most terrifying 9-1-1 calls that I ever heard in my 25 years as a prosecutor.
NARRATOR: Lori Jackson, the mother of baby twins, takes desperate action to try and save her own mother.
LORI JACKSON (ON RECORDING): He's coming upstairs. He's got a gun! I think at that point she just made this very quick decision
that basically she was going to try to save her mother with her own life. NARRATOR: Within hours, law enforcement teams
will launch a manhunt as a life hangs in the balance. They put schools on lockdown.
They closed highways. They used Sheriff's Department and State Police thermal imaging.
They did everything they possibly could to track this man down. The law at the time in the state of Connecticut
did not ban someone from purchasing a firearm who was under a temporary restraining order.
NARRATOR: What domestic hell had been going on inside the marriage of Scott Gellatly and Lori Jackson?
Gellatly was very clearly experiencing a fit of rage, jealousy. Nothing would have stopped him.
[dramatic music playing] [music playing] NARRATOR: The State of Connecticut investigation report makes for dramatic reading.
A call came in from an alarm company of a possible break in. LORI JACKSON: My husband's here.
He's irate and he has a warrant out for his arrest. Please hurry. He's trying to break into the house.
NARRATOR: Shortly after, a neighbor of Lori Jackson called to say that he had heard gunshots.
LORI JACKSON: He's trying to break into the house. I have two kids I'm trying to protect.
NARRATOR: The man seen here on bended knee was the same armed man generating utter terror
for the same woman. [dramatic music playing] LORI JACKSON: He's coming upstairs.
NARRATOR: how had a scene on a kissing bridge descended into one where Scott Gellatly was walking up stairs
with a gun and ready to kill? Lori Jackson lived in the quiet backwater of Oxford, Connecticut, a couple of hours north of New York.
Lori Jackson was a soft-spoken woman, well-liked. She had strawberry blonde hair and a kind smile.
People just really loved her. They said that she's the kind of person that put other people before herself.
NARRATOR: The Jacksons lived on the rustic Lakeside development of Sioux drive. In the late 2000s, a new face appeared in the neighborhood.
Scott Gellatly lived a few houses down. NARRATOR: At the age of 41, Scott was 14 years older than Lori.
Straight away, he was smitten. He was a divorced father of two. And when he saw Lori, he was immediately intrigued.
He immediately is enamored by her. When he met her, she stole his heart. And she just was so charmed by him.
I mean, he treated her so well, like a princess. And the two of them immediately struck up a relationship.
He's in his 40s and immediately begins to sweep her off her feet. Lori was sort of the more quiet person, maybe
a little less sure of herself. And you can imagine why somebody might be attracted to somebody who was more powerful, more charming.
NARRATOR: Important in understanding how events unraveled, Lori's relationship with her mother.
Lori has always loved her mother, maybe even more than herself. And her mother loved her back the exact same way.
NARRATOR: Mary Jackson was cautious about her daughter's new boyfriend. Even the family's German Shepard,
Nikka, didn't seem to like him. Her mother isn't so sure. She is seeing some signals that are worrying her.
I think this family had experienced Scott's controlling nature, his documented physical abuse
that they were able to observe. They had also, I believe, reached out and talked
with his ex-wife and learned more details about Scott that they were not previously familiar with.
Scott certainly had a pattern of abusing women. Certainly he had also abused his previous wife.
NARRATOR: So, the man Lori was falling for had a history of domestic abuse. Not good, according to analysts.
Previous intimate partner violence predicts future intimate partner violence. NARRATOR: But as he and Lori's relationship blossomed,
Lori appeared confident that Scott's violence was all in the past. Scott, meanwhile, was in a hurry to move the relationship on.
Scott proposes to Lori in Key West, Florida. It was just so romantic. It was at sunset.
He's down on his knee. And as soon as he asks her to marry him, she immediately says yes.
And she's so happy. NARRATOR: The dramatic proposal may have swept Lori off her feet, but Mary remained suspicious.
Mary had spoken a little bit about being concerned about Lori and Scott's relationship
and how they were getting married fairly quickly. Mary's so concerned that even on the day of the wedding,
they had this destination wedding in Florida, and even on the very day of the wedding,
Mary says to her daughter, Lori, it's not too late to back out. And Lori says, don't be ridiculous, Mom.
We're madly in love. I love Scott. She probably looked up to him in the beginning.
And I think at the beginning the relationship was just as wonderful as everybody thought it was.
NARRATOR: The wedding goes ahead. Soon after, living just down the road from her parents,
Lori began thinking about a family of her own. In 2012, the couple gets pregnant.
And everyone in the family is just so excited. And they're even more excited when the couple has
twins, one boy and one girl. NARRATOR: Scott carried on his job fitting sprinklers
for the fire safety company, 20 minutes drive away in Orange. Lori too kept working as an analyst
at the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. But within a couple of years, all was not well
in the couple's marriage. After the marriage, he started to do more and more of what
we call a coercive control. Scott was the type of person who wanted to know what
Lori was doing at all times. He would frequently text message or call her incessantly
on her cell phone. When she was in conversations with people like her sister, he would frequently come into the room
and try and join the conversation and really try to control a lot of aspects of her life.
Whenever Lori is not with Scott, he makes her call him and then keep him on speakerphone even
though they're not talking. I mean, it's very sort of stalker-like. We'll see these abusers using coercive control,
trying to isolate their partners from anybody that cares and loves them, so that basically
they have nowhere to run. Scott is extremely possessive and controlling. I mean, he just--
he's in charge. It's his way or the highway. Made her delete all her male Facebook friends.
NARRATOR: He had been a Prince Charming. Now he was a possessive controller. What had changed?
I think oftentimes abusers switch once there is a commitment that is being made,
whether it's engagement or more commonly marriage. Because in their mind, it's like a hard line
that this person can't really leave them as easily as before. NARRATOR: An increasingly jealous
Scott tried to force a wedge between Lori and her mother. Scott was absolutely threatened by the bond
between Lori and her mother because I think he always knew that as long as her mother was alive,
he would be second best. And that wasn't good enough for Scott. He would sit by her at family gatherings
and pinch her to control her behavior. I'm certain that Scott blamed Lori for a lot of different things, as many abusers do.
They'll blame them for the way they're dressing or even blame them for loving them so much.
Oh, it's your fault because I love you too much and that's why it causes me to abuse you.
His temper and his anger was pretty apparent. This is a case where the Warning signs were there.
They were people who were having difficulties in their marriage. There was violence in the marriage.
His temper has always been kind of a hot temper, but now it's getting worse. He's now beginning to get physically violent.
In this case, there really was two distinct events that occurred. The first event that occurred was
a domestic dispute where Scott had physically assaulted Lori. There's an argument.
Scott grabs Lori's arm, just forcefully. And he twists it. Now, she's got the twins in her arms.
And it causes her to almost drop one of them. And she's terrified. Scott took the male, or the boy, from her arms
during this dispute and refused to give the boy back to her. He twisted one of her arms while she was holding
their twins, small babies. And I think that was the last straw. Domestic violence really can spiral
out of control very quickly. He struck her, leaving bruises on her neck and on her arms.
During this physical altercation, a social worker from the state of Connecticut,
who was coming for a home visit for Scott's older children, observed all of this and diffused the situation.
As soon as Scott leaves the house to go to work, Lori goes straight to the police.
NARRATOR: It was the spring of 2014 when Lori made the official complaint against her husband.
That requires the police to investigate it, which they did. And the Connecticut State Police then
came to the State's Attorney's Office with an arrest warrant for assault in the third degree and disorderly conduct.
NARRATOR: The arrest warrant would not prove deterrent enough to stop Scott Gellatly abusing his wife.
He emptied the family's bank account once he moved and began to post things about Lori on Facebook
about her being unfaithful that just weren't true. [dramatic music playing] NARRATOR: Lori Jackson felt terrified
of her abusive husband, Scott Gellatly, and needed protection. But having a warrant issued for his arrest
was not immediately going to help. Scott was informed and notified that there were warrants for his arrest,
but he refused to turn himself in. NARRATOR: Not what she wanted to hear after two
years of marital discord. I think Lori had been living in fear for a very long time,
but finally it got to be too much for her. Lori applied for what we call in Connecticut
a temporary restraining order, which is a civil document which can ban contact between two parties
when there is a fear of physical harm. When you get one of those orders, basically you go in front of a judge
and lay out why you're in fear of a particular person. NARRATOR: With the application in court for a restraining
order and an arrest warrant issued against Scott, Lori did at last feel able to take her 18-month-old twins
and escape the family home. This is the breaking point for Lori. She had been experiencing this type of abuse for a while.
And she decided to leave. Lori moved into her parents' home in order to get away from Scott.
NARRATOR: Whilst Lori was back with her family, Scott still lived just a few doors away in Sioux Drive.
How would he react to his wife taking their children away and back to her mother?
He basically bought a firearm from a guy. NARRATOR: On April 1, 2014, Lori saw her request
for a temporary restraining order granted in a Connecticut courtroom. Nothing new for Scott Gellatly.
Wife number two, restraining order number two. Scott's ex-wife actually has a restraining
order against her ex-husband. NARRATOR: While the arrest warrant and restraining order
were vital documents for Lori's protection, they would be no good for if they couldn't be executed.
And they couldn't be executed. She did get the restraining order, but it was never able to be served upon Scott.
Scott returned to the family home, packed up all of his belongings, and also went to the bank
and cleaned out Scott and Lori's bank account of all of their money. The police were unable to serve the restraining order
or an arrest warrant on Scott because he had left the state and moved to Virginia.
He had fled because of that underlying criminal investigation and the forthcoming arrest.
NARRATOR: Out of the clutches of Connecticut State law, Scott Gellatly began a vicious campaign
against Lori on social media. He starts posting lies about Lori, saying that she's having affairs, she's cheating on him,
which isn't true. You have some friends who are giving him sympathy, but most people who know them know it's just not true.
That just doesn't sound like Lori at all. NARRATOR: The family-loving Lori Jackson, a regular member
of the congregation at this church, was the victim of a Facebook libel. But the perpetrator, her own husband Scott,
had left her with bigger things to worry about. Well, he had left Connecticut with a shotgun.
There was a shotgun that was in the house that he took with him when he cleaned out the house.
I think everything put together led them to be very concerned about Scott, in particular because he
had taken that weapon. NARRATOR: Worse was to come thanks to a loophole in the law.
Scott had traveled to a different state where he could, in spite of the court orders and arrest warrant, buy himself another gun.
Scott purchased the firearm while he was down south from a private party. Scott purchasing a semiautomatic handgun
showed that he had only one goal here, and that was to kill his wife. It's legal to buy a gun from a friend.
And there's no background check required. The law at the time in the state of Connecticut
did not ban someone from purchasing a firearm who was under a temporary restraining order.
NARRATOR: Scott Gellatly was now armed with two weapons, on the run from Connecticut State Police,
and in a dangerous state of mind. Once again, Lori sought protection from the law.
Lori and her mother go to the courts three times for three different temporary restraining orders.
Those orders only last a couple of weeks. Lori had called the State Police on a number of occasions asking what the status
of the investigation was. One of the state troopers, I believe, had reached out and was actually talking
or had talked to Scott, who stated that he was going to come and turn himself in to the State Police.
Obviously, that never occurred. So Lori goes back to the judge. She's had several now temporary restraining
orders against her husband. Now she asked the judge for a permanent restraining order, which would last a year.
So the judge schedules a hearing for both Lori and Scott to appear on May 8. NARRATOR: With Scott on the loose and days still
to go before the hearing, Lori worried about what she might have brought onto her own family.
They got panic buttons for everyone, put alarms on the house so if he did turn up then
they would be able to notify authorities immediately. I think she thought about every day
what would happen if he showed up at my parents' house. What would happen to me?
And more importantly, what would happen to my parents? Because she had this very, very strong bond with them,
especially to her mother. The family was so fearful for Lori. They hired a national security company.
The Jackson family had gone out and bought and a very elaborate alarm system that was
hooked up to their family home. I think that they were living in this state of perpetual fear.
NARRATOR: Lori's father, Doug, became vital for her protection. But he couldn't always be around.
They have developed this routine. Whenever Doug leaves to go to work or anywhere,
Lori locks the screen door and locks the door with a deadbolt. I'm sure she even felt guilty that she had
to bring that upon her own parents, but there was nowhere else to go. And that was truly where she felt the safest.
NARRATOR: Defending the house was top of the Jackson's priority list. But they found other ways of protecting themselves.
They began to go up and down the streets and tell people, if you see this guy in the neighborhood or coming around,
please let us know or call the police. NARRATOR: For Lori Jackson, the next court appearance
couldn't come soon enough. Both Lori and Scott are scheduled to appear in court on May 8 for this restraining order hearing.
NARRATOR: Would they get there on time? The day before the hearing, Scott Gellatly
secretly returned to Sioux Drive. On May 7, 2014, Scott drove back to Connecticut from Virginia.
He's got Virginia license plates, so he's not detected as he comes back into the state.
Scott had gone to the home very early in the morning. At dawn, he parks his truck at the bottom of the hill
and around the corner so no one can see him. And waited for Doug to leave. NARRATOR: Scott didn't have long to wait.
At 5:30 AM, he watched his father-in-law come out of the house and drive away. Lori's father had left first to go to work.
That left Lori and Mary alone in the home with the twin-- Lori's twin children. As soon as Doug leaves for work,
Scott springs into action. Scott went to the house and started beating on the door.
He came up and began banging very hard on the door, demanding to speak to Lori. Nothing would have stopped him, not a door not a padlock.
Nothing would have stopped him getting to her. At that point, they hit the panic buttons
that they had and set off the alarms system within the home. NARRATOR: Lori's 9-1-1 call revealed
the horror of that moment. LORI JACKSON: He's trying to break into my house. I have two kids I'm trying to present
That's one of the most terrifying 9-1-1 calls that I ever heard in my 25 years as a prosecutor.
Lori Jackson is basically pleading with the operator to get the Connecticut State Police to the house as soon
as possible. Unfortunately, it took a few minutes for a Connecticut State Police trooper
to respond to the scene. And during that time is when all of these horrible events
occurred. NARRATOR: Despite the protective measures that the family had set up at the house and Lori's desperate 9-1-1 call,
Scott Gellatly was determined to get to her. He managed to get inside the house anyways.
He bust through the kitchen door and into the house. The women are screaming now.
They're terrified. This was a premeditated attack. Scott had to drive from where he was hiding out down south.
He had to come up here. He had to purchase a weapon. He had to drive back to Oxford.
He had to come through the woods and break down that back door. So there's no doubt in my mind that Scott planned this out.
NARRATOR: Now that he was inside the house, what was Scott Gellatly planning to do next?
LORI JACKSON (ON RECORDING): He's coming upstairs. He's got a gun! [dramatic music playing]
Armed with the pistol that he bought in Virginia, Scott Gellatly had forced his way
into his mother-in-law's house in the early morning of May 7, 2014. LORI JACKSON (ON RECORDING): He's coming upstairs.
He's got a gun! When she realized that Scott was not going away, he had basically pushed his way into the house.
He wasn't leaving. They were screaming and arguing. And she saw how riled up he was.
She knew he was serious. NARRATOR: With his 18-month-old twins asleep upstairs, Scott turned his anger on his wife, Lori.
A loud argument had ensued where he was demanding that Lori come with him to the lake.
At that point, she was obviously refusing. The family dog was there and was barking.
NARRATOR: It wasn't just Lori who faced Scott's fury. Lori's mother, Mary, was in the firing line too.
Mary and Lori were fighting for their lives against Scott. Scott shoves Mary to the floor.
And then he pulls out a .38 caliber gun and he points it straight at her. He was going to take away the only thing that
was important to Lori at that point in her life, the most important thing in her life, because he
didn't want her to be happy. And he kind of wanted to see her suffer. And this whole time, the couple's 18-month-old
twins are in the house sleeping in their beds. NARRATOR: Lori begged her husband not
to go through with his plan. Lori was pleading for Scott to not do anything to the children, to not harm her mom.
Scott pointed the gun at Mary, Lori's mother. And as he did so, she began to yell, please, don't kill Mommy.
Don't kill Mommy. She did in fact, attempt to shield her mother when the shooting began.
When she threw herself in front of her mother, she 100% thought that she was going to die.
She was going to sacrifice her life for her mother because she knew that Scott wouldn't stop.
Lori throws her body in front of her mom. And Scott takes his weapon, aims it, and fires four times.
Four shots. One of them straight to the heart. Mary's screaming. Scott fires four times.
Now Mary's down. And Lori is killed. Lori is dead. The dog, Nikka, is trying to protect them.
And he shoots the dog as well. NARRATOR: By the time police arrived minutes later,
the gunman was gone. Scott managed to flee. Scott takes off in Lori's car. One of the things that she indicated
was that one of their family cars, a truck, was taken by Scott, that Scott had indicated
that he wanted the keys. And he said, are these the keys to your car? NARRATOR: Kevin Lawler was the senior law
officer at the crime scene. I've been a prosecutor for about 25 years. And when I was the State's Attorney in Milford,
I primarily handled the most serious cases in the district, murder, sexual assault,
arson, those types of things. When the crime first occurred, we responded to the scene
in order to ascertain what was going on. As the Chief Law Enforcement Officer in the district,
that's one of the roles that we play at a major scene such as this. We could see that the screen door had been opened
and that the interior door had been forcibly opened. NARRATOR: Inside the house, police officers
found a blood bath. They quickly ascertained that both Mary and Lori were severely wounded.
They were also able to obtain some information from Mary, who was still awake at the time.
Scott takes off in Lori's car. Mary is rushed to a hospital. Miraculously, she will survive.
NARRATOR: For cops, there was an almost certain knowledge of who the perpetrator was.
Immediately, they're ahead of the game. They know who this person is. And now it's a matter of tying that person to the crime scene
and corroborating that story and finding that person. NARRATOR: And in Gellatly's case,
they knew he was speeding away in a car stolen from the scene. He then fled in that vehicle.
And they were able to figure out fairly quickly what type of car that they were looking for.
NARRATOR: Scott Gellatly had managed to evade the law up to now. Could he do it again?
Police are going to be on particularly high alert because this is a person who has nothing to lose.
NARRATOR: As daylight came and the morning rush hour began, law enforcement agencies faced a race against time to track
down the reckless gunman. Police pulled out all stops to find Scott. Scott had fled.
No one knew where he was. He had expressed grievances for other members of the family,
for some of Lori's other friends. So the first priority, along with looking and trying
to capture Scott as fast as possible, was to protect all of those other individuals who
they thought that Scott may be coming to settle some scores with. Police launch a massive manhunt.
We were unsure whether Scott had remained in the area, whether he was seeking out these other individuals who we
thought he might want to settle a score with, or whether he had perhaps even fled the state.
NARRATOR: Police, FBI agents, the state attorney, all of them joined the chase. The Connecticut State Police quickly
assembled a group of partner law enforcement agencies who together were attempting to try and track Scott down.
We were all there trying to figure out really where Scott could have gone and how we could track him,
whether that be through his cell phone or through the car or through some of the reports that we
were getting in of where the vehicle might be. Police officers were dispatched to find Lori's sister,
to find some friends of Lori's who she worked with who they were concerned about as well.
NARRATOR: Helicopters equipped with thermal scanners scoured the area in a bid to track Scott down.
They put schools on lockdown. They closed highways. They used Sheriff's Department and State
Police thermal imaging. They did everything they possibly could to track this man At
At the same time of putting out an all points bulletin throughout the state of Connecticut
to try and locate that vehicle that State Police believed Scott had fled in, we were looking all over the state
of Connecticut and basically anywhere he could have gone during that time frame.
NARRATOR: Even detectives in New York were on high alert in case he tried to escape that way.
We were monitoring the bridges through New York City to see if that license plate was going across, like,
the George Washington Bridge. NARRATOR: For six hours, as Mary Jackson fought for her life
in hospital, officers searched for her daughter Lori's killer. Then a break. Scott tries to shake them off his tail.
Lori's car was found abandoned at a car repair station not far from the home. Two guys are arriving at work at their car repair shop.
And they see this vehicle that doesn't belong there in the parking lot. And the keys are inside.
They look at their records and they find that oh, this belongs to Lori Gellatly.
She had brought her car in here several years ago. Wait a minute, maybe this is connected to that big manhunt.
People there remembered that they had did repairs for Lori Gellatly and immediately decided that they
needed to notify authorities. NARRATOR: Scott had dumped the getaway car and stolen another vehicle.
Finding that car and with it the murderer Scott Gellatly would involve another stroke of good fortune.
State Police received a tip from a landowner in Litchfield County, which is about 40 minutes
or 45 minutes from where the scene of the crime-- where the crime occurred. NARRATOR: The landowner had discovered
something mysterious. He owned a business in Litchfield County that was currently unoccupied.
And within that unoccupied business, in the parking lot, he noticed a vehicle that was out of place,
that just shouldn't be there. He was able to obtain the license plate number and get a general description of the individual
who was seated in that vehicle. NARRATOR: When he reported it to police, they knew they'd found their man.
All nearby law enforcement was responding to that scene as fast as possible. NARRATOR: Although there seemed to be no sign of danger
when they arrived, officers took no chances. As they approached, they realized that the engine
was running, that there was an individual inside of that truck. He sees this truck.
And it has a hose leading from the exhaust pipe into the vehicle. They believe that this was a suicide attempt at that point.
NARRATOR: Was Gellatly desperate enough to now kill himself? Oftentimes, people make this impulsive decision
after killing somebody to also then take their own life because they really feel like they've completely run out
of hope that anything is going to change, that anything is going to get better. NARRATOR: Had Scott Gellatly taken the ultimate way out
to escape justice? [dramatic music playing] [music playing] Would Scott Gellatly's suicide bid be successful?
Officers had found the vehicle he was in and noticed the hose pipe sticking out of the exhaust.
They immediately went to the car, were able to open the doors, extricate the individual inside.
And they immediately attempted to perform life-saving measures on that individual.
They transported Scott to the hospital. At that point, I believe it was for non-life threatening
injuries. NARRATOR: With the full facts still unknown, police weren't yet ready to accuse
him of murdering his wife. But they had another trick up their sleeves. When Scott recovers, police take him
into custody on that outstanding assault warrant. He was questioned by members of the Connecticut State Police
after his rights were read from the hospital. TAPED MALE VOICE: There was a pretty serious incident.
Yeah? So why don't you tell me about it? SCOTT GELLATLY: I don't know. What do you want me to tell you about it?
NARRATOR: Scott wasn't giving anything away. Scott was very noncommittal in his interview
with the State Police. He continually said that he didn't remember anything about going to the Jackson home
earlier that day. TAPED MALE VOICE: You realized that, correct? Your kids are there.
Your wife is there. Your mother-in-law is there. And not once have you asked me if your kids are OK.
SCOTT GELLATLY: Nobody told me. You just told me now. He wouldn't admit to shooting either
his wife or his mother-in-law. All he recalled was getting up in the morning and then recalling that he wanted to kill himself.
TAPED MALE VOICE: Don't you think that's a little funny? If I was in your position, unless I
knew what actually transpired there, I think I-- no, no, no, no, no. You haven't been thinking.
You have not been thinking. NARRATOR: Within hours of his arrest, Scott Gellatly appeared before a judge.
He was presented in court the next business day. And he was held on a very high bond.
And then the case becomes about marshaling all of that evidence in an attempt to prove him guilty
beyond a reasonable doubt at trial, should we have to go in that direction. These types of cases, while they may
seem uncomplicated on the outside, they're actually very complicated. We had one person who was dead at the scene.
We had another person who, when Scott was arraigned, she was still clinging to life.
We didn't know if Mary was going to make it or not. The doctors couldn't tell us that.
NARRATOR: Mary's survival could prove crucial to the case against Scott Gellatly.
While we all had a very good idea of the what and the how, being able to prove it without Mary as an eyewitness,
if that were the case, was something that was obviously very concerning to us. Mary miraculously recovers from her gunshot wounds,
but she loses sight in her left eye and she has some lingering pain. But she's alive.
Police charge Scott Gellatly with murder, attempted murder, first-degree assault, home invasion,
burglary, and robbery. They set his bail at $2 million. I was confident that if we did go to trial that we would be
able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Scott had committed this crime. NARRATOR: Confidence was one thing,
but as the man heading the prosecution team, Kevin Lawler needed to tread cautiously.
We believed that we had a very strong case against Scott. As a prosecutor, you never want to be overconfident.
NARRATOR: After more than a year of evidence collection, data gathering, and scientific testing,
the day arrived for Scott Gellatly to face justice. In September of 2015, Scott Gellatly appears in court.
He has entered a plea of not guilty to his charges. So many of Lori's supporters have turned out.
They've had to move the court proceedings to a larger room to accommodate everyone.
For just the two most serious charges against Scott, murder of Lori Jackson and attempted murder
of Mary Jackson, Scott was facing up to 120 years in prison for those two offenses.
NARRATOR: The crowd in court awaiting Scott Gellatly's trial for the murder of his wife
were in for a surprise. Scott faces the judge. And he stuns the crowd when he enters a plea of guilty.
You can hear gasps going out through the courtroom. NARRATOR: Facing a strong prosecution case,
Gellatly dodged a full trial for the murder of his wife Lori and the attempted murder of his mother-in-law Mary,
thanks to a legal ruse available to defendants in the USA. Scott's plea is what's known as an Alford plea.
He's not admitting to any of the crimes, but he is admitting that there is enough evidence
to land a conviction. So Scott is convicted on all counts. We never got to talk to Scott.
Scott gave a statement at his sentencing and that's about it. NARRATOR: In November 2015, Scott Gellatly struck
a deal with the State Attorney. What we finally agreed to was an agreed upon sentence of 45 years to serve for murder
and for attempted murder. Effectively, it's a life sentence for him. NARRATOR: And although Mary and Doug Jackson faced
their own life sentence, a life without their daughter Lori, it was a result they could agree to.
They felt confident that that 45 year sentence was something that was reasonable and something that avoided
the uncertainties of a trial. They were happy to see it resolved. And they were also happy to have Scott say those words,
that he had done it. NARRATOR: Gellatly had more to say though. In court, he delivered one final blow to the Jackson family,
a family he had tried to destroy. At his sentencing hearing, Scott told the courtroom
that he had forgiven himself and God had forgiven him, and that Lori was an angel and he'd see her in heaven soon.
He called Lori his angel, which really offended the Jackson family, and offended
me, to be perfectly honest. He addresses the packed courtroom. He says, God has already forgiven me.
Lori is an angel. I will see her in heaven. I'm not the monster that they made me out to be.
And someone in the courtroom screams out, yes you are. It's pretty typical of someone like Scott
to make those types of assertions, that they're forgiven and God has forgiven them,
because they will never take the responsibility for what they have done and whom they've hurt.
NARRATOR: Taking responsibility was never on the cards for Scott Gellatly. Scott tells the crowd that it was all a mistake.
He never intended to kill anyone. It happens all the time. They have an overinflated perception of themselves,
for whatever reason, and no regard for anyone else. The judge isn't buying it. He looks at Scott and he says, killing your wife
and trying to kill her mother was not a mistake. Your actions were calculated, contemplative, and intentional.
NARRATOR: Despite his attempts to grandstand in front of the courtroom, Gellatly
didn't get the last word. Lori's mother, Mary, addresses the courtroom. And she tells them about this unbreakable bond
she had with her daughter, Lori, that Scott continuously tried to destroy. She says, that bond will never ever be broken.
Mary Jackson gave what I could only describe as an extremely heartfelt, emotional, loving tribute to her daughter
that day in court. There wasn't a dry eye in the house when Mary spoke. The judge says, Lori's actions in those last moments
of her life tell us all we need to know about her. She risked her own life to save her mother's.
She knew she was going to die. NARRATOR: In the wake of Lori's murder, her parents began a campaign to change the law.
That was something that this case revealed as a loophole in the state of Connecticut's firearms purchase laws.
So one of the things that the Jackson family felt very strongly about was lobbying our legislature and Congress
to change that law. After Lori's death, the state of Connecticut passed the Lori Jackson Domestic Violence
Survivor Protection Act. That law was changed two years after this crime occurred
to prevent people similar to Scott from being allowed to purchase firearms if they were under a temporary restraining order.
NARRATOR: Scott Gellatly's story, meanwhile, had a final twist. Scott pled to the maxim chargers that he faced.
And he was sentenced to what turned out to be a life sentence for him, seeing as how he died in prison.
On December 21, 2018, Scott Gellatly is found dead in his cell. I received word from the Department of Corrections
that Scott had died in their custody. His death is ruled a suicide caused by poisoning.
He was given certain prescription medication, which he hoarded and then took it.
He had administered himself a fatal combination of antihistamine and antidepressant.
There has been no confirmation of suicide. But again, there has been no confirmation of foul play.
NARRATOR: Mary Jackson survived the horrific attack, but she lost the sight in one eye
and her beloved daughter, Gellatly's wife Lori. The Jackson family, from the day this occurred until today,
have been fierce advocates for greater funding for domestic violence, for more effective laws
dealing with handguns and domestic violence. And that their pain and their suffering
and their daughter's death were not in vain because of their ability to stand up for themselves and for other members of the community.
We're better off today because of Mary Jackson and her family. [music playing] [dramatic music playing]

Scott and Lori Gellatly had a whirlwind romance followed by an abusive marriage. When Lori left, her entire family became targets for Scott.

Though wedded couples vow to stay together until death do they part, this new true crime series looks at what happens when a groom or bride causes their beloved's death.

Brief Summary

Lori Jackson's tragic story reveals the dangers of domestic violence and legal loopholes that allowed her husband to purchase firearms before murdering her.

Key points

A Mother's Desperate Call. Lori Jackson calls 9-1-1, terrified for her children's safety as her husband breaks in.
The Prosecutor's Chilling Reflection. A prosecutor describes Lori's call as one of the most terrifying he's heard in 25 years.
Scott's Premeditated Attack. Scott Gellatly breaks into his mother-in-law's house, armed and furious, targeting Lori.
Lori's Plea for Mercy. In a desperate moment, Lori begs her husband not to go through with his violent intentions.
A Mother's Sacrifice. Lori throws herself in front of her mother to save her from Scott's gunfire.
The Aftermath of Violence. Police arrive to find a bloodbath, with both Mary and Lori severely wounded.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

That's one of the most terrifying 9-1-1 calls that I ever heard.

A prosecutor reflecting on Lori's call.

0:17WatchJun 8, 2022

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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