Share and Follow
On May 24, 1992, Gail Mosby, 39, a dedicated nurse and mother of two, was found dead in her Jackson, Mississippi home.
The grim discovery was made by a concerned neighbor. He had a key to the house and entered when Gail failed to respond to knocks on her door.
“He was horrified to find that she was in her bathtub,” former prosecutor Thomas Mayfield told Snapped, airing Sundays at 6/5c p.m. on Oxygen. “Her head was still underwater.”
The death was an apparent suicide. But inconsistencies with that theory found at the scene, such as blood in the water and a small bruise on Mosby’s body, suggested the possibility of foul play.
“The thing that got me is the fact that the water was shallow,” said Charlie Smith, now retired from Jackson Police CSI. “Your body’s not gonna let you kill yourself drowning in shallow water.”
An investigation ultimately led to the revelation of a deadly conspiracy behind the 40-year-old mom’s death.
Who was Gail Mosby?
Born in 1952 in Natchez, Mississippi, Mosby was raised with her two younger sisters in a devoutly Catholic home.
After graduating as salutatorian of her high school class, she studied nursing at Northwestern University, and went on to become a successful neonatal intensive care unit sure.
She married Richard Mosby in 1981. They had two sons — Bill in 1982 and Joe three years later.
The family moved to Hammond, Louisiana, where Bill started a tire business. Life was happy, but when the enterprise failed, they moved back to Jackson.
The couple amicably divorced in 1986. Gail got full custody of the boys, while Richard, who remarried in 1988, had the children every other weekend.
Four years later, Gail was dead, having appeared to have taken her own life. A journal in her home revealed that she was dealing with depression over her breakup with her girlfriend.
“In Mississippi in the early 90s, having a homosexual relationship would have been a very troubling thing to do in terms of societal acceptance,” said former prosecutor Cynthia Speetjens.
Though all the evidence indicated Gail had died by suicide, Smith and other detectives were unconvinced that Gail ended her own life. A broken framed glass photo at the scene struck them as being out of place, but there were no other signs of foul play.
The coroner observed a small abrasion on Gail’s nose but officially ruled the death an accidental suicide.
“For some reason, he dug in his heels on this particular case,” said Smith.
Gail’s boys recalled being devastated by their mom’s death. “I collapsed,” said Joe Mosby. “I don’t ever remember getting up.”
Bill Mosby, though young, grappled with the idea that his mother killed herself. “To have someone tell me that my mom committed suicide was just the most absurd thing that I could think of,” he said.
Witness drops bombshell claims about Gail Mosby’s death
Investigators learned that tension had been growing between Gail and Richard and his new wife, Deborah, for the four years leading up to Gail’s death. Gail’s family told police that Deborah resented any reminders of Richard’s life before her.
“Debbie was very nasty towards my aunt Gail,” said Katie Hughes.
Deborah was married before she met Richard. She’d had two children, one of whom died in infancy. Richard and Deborah had a daughter, Sarah.
Joe and Bill were treated secondary by their dad and Deborah, they told Snapped. “My mom and my dad started having custody battles … and alimony disputes,” said Joe. “It was clear that Debbie was the one spearheading those problems.”
Could the rancor have turned deadly? Without evidence to support the idea that Gail was murdered, investigators’ hands were tied.
Four months after Gail’s death, Deborah’s sister, Vickie Mordecai, approached the FBI. She claimed she and her husband were targeted for murder related to a marijuana-growing enterprise. She sought protection in exchange for information on Gail’s case.
Mordecai said she’d learned that Deborah had sought out a hitman, Billy Ray Ford, to get rid of Gail, according to Snapped.
According to Mordecai, “Deborah said, ‘I need somebody to take care of Gail,” said Mayfield. When the hit was carried out, Ford picked up Richard Mosby and drove to Gail’s house.
“There’s no sign of any forced entry, because Gail thought she was only letting Richard in,” said Mayfield. Mordecai told authorities that Ford attacked Gail, which is when the picture frame shattered.
Gail’s mouth was covered with a rag soaked in a solvent to knock her out. She was then drowned in the tub. When investigators checked the veracity of Mordecai’s story, they found that Ford had a conviction for attempted murder that had been reversed on appeal.
Deborah’s turbulent history with Gail lent credence to Mordecai’s claims. Jackson Police opened an official investigation into Gail’s death.
Police enlisted Vickie to talk with Richard and Deborah while wearing a wire. Deborah admitted to knowing Ford during the sting but denied hiring him to kill Gail.
As detectives listened in, she said she hired Ford to go to Gail and scare or rough her up in the aim of making her go away, according to Speetjens. The evidence established that Ford and Richard were in the house when Gail died.
Police subsequently subpoenaed Deborah’s phone records. Call logs showed that in the months leading up to Gail’s death, Deborah and Ford spoke several times.
Three suspects are changed with conspiring to kill Debra Mosby
Richard, Deborah, and Ford were indicted for conspiracy to commit murder. News of the murder plot spread like wildfire.
Deborah’s ex-husband reached out to investigators to inform them that that he and Deborah had a baby who drowned. Deborah tried to blame their firstborn child for the death.
Investigators were struck by the similarities — two bathtub deaths connected to one woman.
As the prosecution built its case, they faced a significant roadblock: the county coroner would not reverse his ruling that Gail’s death was a suicide.
Because Gail was buried without an autopsy, her body was exhumed. Officials hoped to prove that Gail had chloroform in her system, but their efforts were unsuccessful due to the state of decomposition.
Dr. Michael Balen, a forensic pathologist, was brought on to the case. Abrasions on Gail’s nose and the shallow water led him to conclude her death was a homicide.
“It didn’t change the coroner’s mind,” said Speetjens.
The trial begins and quickly takes a sharp turn
“This was a case that had a lot of moving parts,” said Gail’s friend, George Luter.
On October 10, 1994, the three defendants’ trial began. Through his lawyer, Ford said that he’d testify against Richard and Deborah. The cases were severed at this point.
Ford cleared up any doubts about who masterminded Gail’s murder. “He actually dealt with Deborah, who retained him,” said Mayfield. “Richard pretty much did what Deborah told him to do.”
In May 1995, Richard Mosby pleaded guilty to murder. In December 1995, Deborah’s trial began. Prosecutors theorized that with Gail out of the way, Deborah would benefit financially.
“If Gail died, child support would stop, and Social Security would start for the boys,” said Bill Barnett, custody attorney for Gail.
Mayfield posited another theory about Deborah’s motive: “My impression was she just didn’t like Gail,” he said. “I think she hated her.”
Deborah was convicted and sentenced to life behind bars.
Ford and Richard Mosby were released from prison in 2021. Deborah was released after serving 26 years of her sentence.
Joe and Bill have not been in contact with their father since his release. The coroner changed his official ruling to homicide after the trials.
Snapped airs Sundays at 6/5c p.m. on Oxygen.
