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Man says texts from Walmart convinced him to confess to murder

Paranoia appeared to be the motive for a 55-year-old man admitting to murdering a woman in 1997.
Matthew Gibson

Paranoia appeared to be the motive for a 55-year-old man admitting to murdering a woman in 1997.

Matthew Gibson reportedly traveled to Arizona to confess to the murder of a woman, 17 years after her death, according to The Charlotte Observer.

Gibson told investigators he had received a Walmart ad in the mail, and had also gotten text messages and voice mails from Walmart, saying prescriptions were ready for Anita Townshed.

The combination of texts, calls and mail led Gibson to believe he was being monitored and that someone knew what had happened years ago.

Gibson then traveled, without sleeping, from Watauga County, North Carolina to Winslow, Arizona. He went to the police station there and confessed to murder, explaining a woman he met went home with him, but she became loud and obnoxious and refused to leave. That’s when he allegedly bludgeoned her with a heavy Maglite flashlight and dumped her body by the Colorado River.

Police said the story matched some facts concerning the 1997 death of 38-year-old Barbara Brown Agnew, The Observer reported. The case had gone unsolved for 17 years.

His public defender said Gibson wanted to plead guilty to manslaughter and begin serving his sentence right away. Gibson was reportedly sentenced September 12, 2014, in Mohave County Superior Court to ten years in prison.

 

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