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Background: News footage of Benjamin Whitaker”s house in Dublin, Ga., where Tiffani Scarborough was found dead on June 30, 2021 (WMAZ). Inset (left): Benjamin Whitaker (Laurens County Sheriff’s Office). Inset (right): Tiffani Scarborough (Facebook).
A man from Georgia who took his wife’s life just weeks after their wedding will now spend his lifetime behind bars.
Benjamin Whitaker, once employed as a nurse, was convicted in March on charges of felony murder, malice murder, and two counts of aggravated assault. This week, the verdict was finalized as a judge sentenced him to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Whitaker faced the courtroom due to the tragic shooting of his wife, 25-year-old Tiffani Scarborough, which occurred shortly after their marriage.
Local CBS affiliate WMAZ reported from the courtroom that the couple had been married for a mere 59 days when Whitaker shot Scarborough five times before fleeing their Dublin, Georgia residence.
The Courier Herald, a local news outlet, covered Whitaker’s initial trial, highlighting the details surrounding his arrest. According to their reports, Whitaker and Scarborough tied the knot on May 1, 2021, after a year of dating. Both shared a profession in nursing, with Whitaker serving at Fairview Park Hospital and Scarborough working at a local OB/GYN office. Following their marriage, Scarborough and her young son moved into Whitaker’s home.
Tragically, just shy of two months later, on June 29, 2021, Scarborough was found dead. Her absence from work prompted two of her colleagues to check on her, leading them to discover bullet holes in the back door of her home. Alarmed, one of the co-workers contacted the authorities, who arrived to find Scarborough deceased inside.
Whitaker was found the next day in a wooded area by his parents’ house in a neighboring county. When he was interviewed by police, he told them that Scarborough “was chastising me about having a couple of drinks. That nagging set me off.” He told police that he went to their bedroom to retrieve a handgun then “I walked into the kitchen and I shot her.” The prosecution said Whitaker shot Scarborough five times.
Whitaker’s defense attorney told the court that the deadly act was “out of character for him.” He said Whitaker was taking Lexapro and Buspar for depression, which he suffered from after losing several patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. The defense told the court that the drug combination was “dangerous” and prevented Whitaker from knowing what was right or wrong at the time of the murder.
The 2025 trial ended in a mistrial, and a second trial took place in March. The same police interview was presented as evidence, as well as the defense’s argument that Whitaker’s “serotonin syndrome” caused a bad reaction to his medication. In the second trial, the jury found Whitaker guilty after three hours of deliberation.