“Why I Killed My Husband?” The Gwendolyn Pearson Story

  “Why I Killed My Husband?”

The Gwendolyn Pearson Story

My name is Gwendolyn Rene Pearson. I'm serving life without the possibility of parole in the Parkway State Prison for women here in Greenville, Alabama. I was found guilty of killing my husband Samuel Pearson and his mistress Diana Wynn on September 18, 1998. My husband Samuel was an abusive prick for the whole 23 years that we were married. We had four beautiful kids together : Samuel Jr. 22, Janice 20, Michael 17, and Teresa 14. We met our sophomore year at Mulberry University in Southern Alabama. He was on the football team and I was smitten the first time I saw him. He was tall, dark , and as bowlegged as he could be. I was pregnant with Samuel Jr when we got married our senior year in college. After graduation, Samuel started working for his dad's Jim's construction business. Samuel didn't want me to work, so I stayed home raising our four children. The first time he hit me was our second year of marriage. Michael was the baby at the time and I couldn't get the little sandy haired joker to stop crying one night. Samuel told me if I didn't shut Michael up he would slap the shit out of me. Well Michael wouldn't stop crying so I got the shit slapped out of me. I put up with his abuse for as long as I could for the sake of our four children. It wasn't enough that he abused me, he had to have other women on the side too. When I caught him the first time it was with one of my cousins at a family gathering. I had to use the bathroom and ended up walking in on asshole with my cousin Misty bend over the bathroom sink with Samuel behind her pounding away. I ran out of the bathroom in full tears and the bastard slapped me. He told me if I tried to leave him he would kill me. I felt trapped like a wild animal kept in captivity at the zoo. I remember telling my mother in law Beverly about what Samuel was doing to me.

“A man is going to be a man honey,” said Beverly. “There's nothing you can do about that.”

I thought to myself, "This bitch is brain washed.”

The summer of 2009, I left Samuel and took our four kids. I went back to Middleton, Alabama to live with my sister Marsha. My mother was scared to death of Samuel, so I didn't want her to lose sleep thinking of what he might do if I was there at her house. Three weeks later he came to my sisters house begging and crying telling me how much he missed the kids and me. He promised me that he would never hit or cheat on me ever again. Foolishly I went back to him. One night after an outing with a few of his friends, he came in singing loudly. I went downstairs to the kitchen and to tell him to keep it down a bit. He didn't like that shit. He pulled me by my hair and pinned me against the refrigerator.

“Bitch, you don't tell me what to do!” said Samuel. “I tell you what to do!”

“I'm sorry,” I said. “I won't do it again.”

“Stupid bitch!” said Samuel.

He pushed me to the floor and went upstairs slamming the bedroom door. I spent the night on the kitchen floor in tears.

The next morning, I gathered myself to fix breakfast. I didn't feel like another confrontation especially in front of the children. I pretended like nothing had happened. I helped got our children ready for school and walked our two youngest to the school bus. On my way back to the house, I saw Samuel get into his truck and leave for work. That's great a least I didn't have to talk to him. I went into the house to do my house chores for the day. Samuel left his phone on the coffee table. He had lied about not abusing me again. I wondered if he was also lying about not cheating again either. He usually kept his phone locked so that I couldn't see what he was up to. I was surprised when I picked it up from the coffee table that it was unlocked. I turned it on and it went straight to his text messages. While I was on the kitchen floor in tears and in pain from him pulling my hair out, he had been upstairs texting some whore named Diana. I took the phone over to the kitchen table to put it down. I didn't give a damn if he walked in on me or not, I was fuming mad. I pored me a cup of hot coffee and sat down and read every single text message. The last one that was sent was early this morning around 7:00 am. They had agreed to meet up at the Country Inn and Suites at 8:00 pm tonight room 276. I got up from the kitchen table an closed his phone. I placed it back like it was on the end table facing the back door. I did my chores that morning like I always did. I went upstairs and took a shower after the chores was done. While upstairs, I heard his truck pull in the driveway. I looked out our bedroom window and saw him get out of the truck and come into the house. He grabbed his cell phone, jumped back into his truck and left. I watched the cheating son of a bitch as he drove out of the yard onto the highway. The dumb ass didn't even bothering closing the front door. I didn't fell much like cooking that day. I just threw a quick slow cook meal from the deep freezer into my Pioneer woman crock pot. I was getting more angry buy the minute as I sat on the couch. “How could he keep doing this to me?” I thought to myself. I had given him four children and endured all his abuse for so long. If I confronted him about what I had seen, he would just beat me for looking at his phone. He would keep lying and abusing me for as long as he could. I had to kill him. It was the only way I could be free from him. I went upstairs to our bedroom. I opened the closet door and took out a shoe box. I opened it up and inside covered with wrapping paper was a 9mm handgun. I picked it up and checked inside. It was already loaded with full ammunition. I took the gun from the box and put the empty box back onto the shelf in the closet. I went downstairs and put the gun into purse. When the kids got home from school, I made sure they were done with their home work. I fed then and cleaned up the kitchen. I looked at the clock on the wall. It was now 7:00 pm. I told the kids that I had to go the store and that I would be right back. I grabbed my purse from the kitchen counter. I was on a mission tonight and there was no turning back. I got into my car and headed straight to the County Inn and Suites hotel. When I arrived at the hotel, I didn't see Samuel's truck anywhere. I backed into parking space and waited for him to show up. In my rear view window I could see him pull up slowly. I slid down a little in my seat so he wouldn't see me when the truck light flashed in my car window. There was a small red four door car that pulled up beside him. A tall slender blonde woman got out of the car. She ran up to Samuel's truck and place her arms around his waist.

“This must be the infamous Diana,” I said.

I waited on them to go upstairs to the room before I got out of the car. I remembered the room number when I got upstairs to the second floor. I took the gun out of my purse hiding it behind my back. I tapped on the door to the room. I could see Samuel shirtless through the thin floral and off white curtains to the room window.

“Who's there?” said Samuel.

“Housekeeping,” I said.

He began to unlock the door. As he opened up the door, I took my hand with the gun from back and brought it forward. The surprise look in his eyes is one t hat I will never forget. He backed up slowly with is hands raised into the hotel room. I followed and began firing the gun until he feel backwards on the bed. Diana had come out of the bathroom and began screaming. I shot her once until she fell to the floor. I didn't know if she was dead or not. I walked up to where she was lying on the floor near the bathroom door and fired one shot right between her eyes. If she wasn't dead then she was surely dead now. I turned and looked at Samuel as he lay dead on the bed. I was out of bullets from killing his whore. If I had another clip I would have gladly reloaded and shot him again. I put the hand gun back into my purse and ran out of the hotel room shutting the door behind me. When I got to the car, I closed the door. I began laughing hard as I have ever laughed before. I felt free finally and it felt really good. I turned on the ignition to my car and drove to the Kroger. I had told my kids that I was going to the store to pick up a few items and I did just that. I bought every flavor of ice cream that they had and took it home to my kids. The next morning I was awaken to loud knocking at my front door. I went downstairs and it was the police. Before I could admit what I had done, they were already placing my hands behind my back telling me that I was under arrest. My children came down stairs to see their mother in handcuffs. This is the part I hated the most.

“Samuel,” I said. “ Call your grandmother.”

Samuel nodded that he would and the cops read me my rights and took me away to jail. The detectives came in telling that someone had come forward seeing me run out of the room after killing Samuel and his mistress. The hotel had me on camera getting out of the car going up to the hotel room. I didn't deny anything because I did kill his ass and I would have done it again. The only regret that I had was that I wouldn't be able to be with my children.

“Why did you kill your husband?” said Detective Moore.

“So I could be free,” I said. “I'm finally free from him.”

The two detectives just looked at one another and left me in the cold room alone. Murders are seldom give a bond in Alabama for double homicide. I sat in jail for four months until my trial began. I was convicted of double homicide and sentenced to life without in September of 2017. I don't fell guilty of what I did to Samuel and his side chick. After hearing Samuel's family victim impact statements I still didn't fell a thing. If his crazy bitch of a mother had done something about her bastard abusing me all those years instead of saying it was a man being a man he probably would have still be alive. I mean this is literally her fault for raising him the way that he was. I later found out the real reason his mother felt the way she did about Samuel abusing me. Samuel's father was beating her ass. No wonder the lost soul thought it was alright for men to do this. She had had it beaten into her that it was the right thing for so long. I spend most of my days reading magazines and my bible that was given to me by the prison. I write my children and my family regularly. I find solace in writing in a journal that I have kept since I got locked up. I have made some acquaintances since I have been in here. There is no such things as loyal friends in prison. I found out that he hard way by telling a young lady how I felt about another and was confronted by that woman. We got to fighting and I got the best of her and was sent to the hole for a week. I have been in prison for seven years now. My sister brings my two youngest children to visit me every other weekend. My older children visit when they can. I had a requested visit from Samuel's mother and I turned it down. I don't know what she expects me to say to her. I don't want her forgiveness and I don't feel bad about killing her son. I 'm not going to lie to her and say I do. Some people tell me that I may feel sorry for it some day but that day hasn't come yet. I'm still angry right now of what he made me do to him. If he only had let me leave, maybe the outcome would have been totally different today. I thought by killing Samuel that I would be free. This isn't freedom in no way or form. I just got out of one hell into another one. Well as the old folks say, "You made your bed now go lay in it.” That's exactly what I'm going to do right now. Goodnight.