00:00:05
NARRATOR: A chilling 9-1-1
call about an armed attacker. LORI JACKSON: He's trying
to break into the house.
00:00:12
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.
00:00:24
NARRATOR: Lori Jackson,
the mother of baby twins, takes desperate action to
try and save her own mother.
00:00:32
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
00:00:39
that basically she was
going to try to save her mother with her own life. NARRATOR: Within hours,
law enforcement teams
00:00:45
will launch a manhunt as a
life hangs in the balance. They put schools on lockdown.
00:00:51
They closed highways. They used Sheriff's
Department and State Police thermal imaging.
00:00:58
They did everything
they possibly could to track this man down. The law at the time in
the state of Connecticut
00:01:03
did not ban someone
from purchasing a firearm who was under a
temporary restraining order.
00:01:10
NARRATOR: What
domestic hell had been going on inside the
marriage of Scott Gellatly and Lori Jackson?
00:01:18
Gellatly was very
clearly experiencing a fit of rage, jealousy. Nothing would have stopped him.
00:01:26
[dramatic music playing] [music playing] NARRATOR: The State
of Connecticut investigation report makes
for dramatic reading.
00:01:56
A call came in from an alarm
company of a possible break in. LORI JACKSON: My husband's here.
00:02:02
He's irate and he has a
warrant out for his arrest. Please hurry. He's trying to break
into the house.
00:02:07
NARRATOR: Shortly after,
a neighbor of Lori Jackson called to say that he
had heard gunshots.
00:02:13
LORI JACKSON: He's trying
to break into the house. I have two kids I'm
trying to protect.
00:02:18
NARRATOR: The man seen
here on bended knee was the same armed man
generating utter terror
00:02:24
for the same woman. [dramatic music playing] LORI JACKSON: He's
coming upstairs.
00:02:30
NARRATOR: how had a
scene on a kissing bridge descended into one where Scott
Gellatly was walking up stairs
00:02:37
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.
00:02:47
Lori Jackson was a
soft-spoken woman, well-liked. She had strawberry blonde
hair and a kind smile.
00:02:56
People just really loved her. They said that she's the
kind of person that put other people before herself.
00:03:02
NARRATOR: The Jacksons
lived on the rustic Lakeside development of Sioux drive. In the late 2000s, a new face
appeared in the neighborhood.
00:03:10
Scott Gellatly lived
a few houses down. NARRATOR: At the
age of 41, Scott was 14 years older than Lori.
00:03:17
Straight away, he was smitten. He was a divorced
father of two. And when he saw Lori, he
was immediately intrigued.
00:03:28
He immediately
is enamored by her. When he met her,
she stole his heart. And she just was
so charmed by him.
00:03:36
I mean, he treated her
so well, like a princess. And the two of them immediately
struck up a relationship.
00:03:43
He's in his 40s and
immediately begins to sweep her off her feet. Lori was sort of the
more quiet person, maybe
00:03:53
a little less sure of herself. And you can imagine
why somebody might be attracted to somebody who was
more powerful, more charming.
00:04:01
NARRATOR: Important
in understanding how events unraveled, Lori's
relationship with her mother.
00:04:06
Lori has always
loved her mother, maybe even more than herself. And her mother loved her
back the exact same way.
00:04:14
NARRATOR: Mary Jackson was
cautious about her daughter's new boyfriend. Even the family's
German Shepard,
00:04:20
Nikka, didn't seem to like him. Her mother isn't so sure. She is seeing some signals
that are worrying her.
00:04:29
I think this family
had experienced Scott's controlling nature,
his documented physical abuse
00:04:38
that they were able to observe. They had also, I believe,
reached out and talked
00:04:44
with his ex-wife
and learned more details about Scott
that they were not previously familiar with.
00:04:50
Scott certainly had a
pattern of abusing women. Certainly he had also
abused his previous wife.
00:04:56
NARRATOR: So, the man
Lori was falling for had a history of domestic abuse. Not good, according to analysts.
00:05:03
Previous intimate
partner violence predicts future intimate
partner violence. NARRATOR: But as he and
Lori's relationship blossomed,
00:05:12
Lori appeared
confident that Scott's violence was all in the past. Scott, meanwhile, was in a hurry
to move the relationship on.
00:05:20
Scott proposes to Lori
in Key West, Florida. It was just so romantic. It was at sunset.
00:05:26
He's down on his knee. And as soon as he
asks her to marry him, she immediately says yes.
00:05:31
And she's so happy. NARRATOR: The
dramatic proposal may have swept Lori off her feet,
but Mary remained suspicious.
00:05:40
Mary had spoken a little
bit about being concerned about Lori and
Scott's relationship
00:05:48
and how they were getting
married fairly quickly. Mary's so concerned that
even on the day of the wedding,
00:05:55
they had this destination
wedding in Florida, and even on the very
day of the wedding,
00:06:00
Mary says to her daughter, Lori,
it's not too late to back out. And Lori says, don't
be ridiculous, Mom.
00:06:08
We're madly in love. I love Scott. She probably looked up
to him in the beginning.
00:06:12
And I think at the
beginning the relationship was just as wonderful as
everybody thought it was.
00:06:17
NARRATOR: The
wedding goes ahead. Soon after, living just down
the road from her parents,
00:06:21
Lori began thinking about
a family of her own. In 2012, the
couple gets pregnant.
00:06:26
And everyone in the
family is just so excited. And they're even more
excited when the couple has
00:06:32
twins, one boy and one girl. NARRATOR: Scott carried on
his job fitting sprinklers
00:06:38
for the fire safety company, 20
minutes drive away in Orange. Lori too kept
working as an analyst
00:06:44
at the Connecticut
Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. But within a couple of
years, all was not well
00:06:51
in the couple's marriage. After the marriage, he started
to do more and more of what
00:06:55
we call a coercive control. Scott was the type of
person who wanted to know what
00:07:00
Lori was doing at all times. He would frequently text
message or call her incessantly
00:07:08
on her cell phone. When she was in conversations
with people like her sister, he would frequently
come into the room
00:07:16
and try and join
the conversation and really try to control a
lot of aspects of her life.
00:07:23
Whenever Lori
is not with Scott, he makes her call him and then
keep him on speakerphone even
00:07:31
though they're not talking. I mean, it's very
sort of stalker-like. We'll see these abusers
using coercive control,
00:07:37
trying to isolate their
partners from anybody that cares and loves
them, so that basically
00:07:42
they have nowhere to run. Scott is extremely
possessive and controlling. I mean, he just--
00:07:48
he's in charge. It's his way or the highway. Made her delete all her
male Facebook friends.
00:07:55
NARRATOR: He had been
a Prince Charming. Now he was a
possessive controller. What had changed?
00:08:02
I think oftentimes
abusers switch once there is a commitment
that is being made,
00:08:06
whether it's engagement
or more commonly marriage. Because in their mind,
it's like a hard line
00:08:10
that this person can't really
leave them as easily as before. NARRATOR: An
increasingly jealous
00:08:15
Scott tried to force a wedge
between Lori and her mother. Scott was absolutely
threatened by the bond
00:08:21
between Lori and her mother
because I think he always knew that as long as
her mother was alive,
00:08:27
he would be second best. And that wasn't good
enough for Scott. He would sit by her
at family gatherings
00:08:33
and pinch her to
control her behavior. I'm certain that
Scott blamed Lori for a lot of different
things, as many abusers do.
00:08:40
They'll blame them for
the way they're dressing or even blame them for
loving them so much.
00:08:44
Oh, it's your fault
because I love you too much and that's why it
causes me to abuse you.
00:08:49
His temper and his
anger was pretty apparent. This is a case where the
Warning signs were there.
00:08:57
They were people who were having
difficulties in their marriage. There was violence
in the marriage.
00:09:03
His temper has always
been kind of a hot temper, but now it's getting worse. He's now beginning to
get physically violent.
00:09:11
In this case,
there really was two distinct events that occurred. The first event
that occurred was
00:09:19
a domestic dispute where Scott
had physically assaulted Lori. There's an argument.
00:09:27
Scott grabs Lori's
arm, just forcefully. And he twists it. Now, she's got the
twins in her arms.
00:09:34
And it causes her to
almost drop one of them. And she's terrified. Scott took the male,
or the boy, from her arms
00:09:44
during this dispute and refused
to give the boy back to her. He twisted one of her
arms while she was holding
00:09:51
their twins, small babies. And I think that
was the last straw. Domestic violence
really can spiral
00:10:00
out of control very quickly. He struck her, leaving bruises
on her neck and on her arms.
00:10:07
During this physical
altercation, a social worker from the
state of Connecticut,
00:10:13
who was coming for a home visit
for Scott's older children, observed all of this and
diffused the situation.
00:10:21
As soon as Scott leaves
the house to go to work, Lori goes straight
to the police.
00:10:26
NARRATOR: It was
the spring of 2014 when Lori made the official
complaint against her husband.
00:10:32
That requires the police to
investigate it, which they did. And the Connecticut
State Police then
00:10:37
came to the State's
Attorney's Office with an arrest
warrant for assault in the third degree
and disorderly conduct.
00:10:43
NARRATOR: The arrest
warrant would not prove deterrent
enough to stop Scott Gellatly abusing his wife.
00:10:50
He emptied the
family's bank account once he moved and began to post
things about Lori on Facebook
00:10:57
about her being unfaithful
that just weren't true. [dramatic music playing] NARRATOR: Lori
Jackson felt terrified
00:11:10
of her abusive husband,
Scott Gellatly, and needed protection. But having a warrant
issued for his arrest
00:11:16
was not immediately
going to help. Scott was informed
and notified that there were
warrants for his arrest,
00:11:22
but he refused to
turn himself in. NARRATOR: Not what she
wanted to hear after two
00:11:26
years of marital discord. I think Lori had been living
in fear for a very long time,
00:11:31
but finally it got to
be too much for her. Lori applied for what
we call in Connecticut
00:11:37
a temporary restraining order,
which is a civil document which can ban contact
between two parties
00:11:46
when there is a fear
of physical harm. When you get one
of those orders, basically you go
in front of a judge
00:11:53
and lay out why you're in
fear of a particular person. NARRATOR: With the application
in court for a restraining
00:11:59
order and an arrest warrant
issued against Scott, Lori did at last feel able to
take her 18-month-old twins
00:12:06
and escape the family home. This is the breaking
point for Lori. She had been experiencing
this type of abuse for a while.
00:12:15
And she decided to leave. Lori moved into
her parents' home in order to get away from Scott.
00:12:23
NARRATOR: Whilst Lori was
back with her family, Scott still lived just a few
doors away in Sioux Drive.
00:12:29
How would he react to his
wife taking their children away and back to her mother?
00:12:34
He basically bought
a firearm from a guy. NARRATOR: On April 1,
2014, Lori saw her request
00:12:40
for a temporary
restraining order granted in a Connecticut courtroom. Nothing new for Scott Gellatly.
00:12:47
Wife number two, restraining
order number two. Scott's ex-wife
actually has a restraining
00:12:53
order against her ex-husband. NARRATOR: While the arrest
warrant and restraining order
00:12:58
were vital documents
for Lori's protection, they would be no good for if
they couldn't be executed.
00:13:04
And they couldn't be executed. She did get the
restraining order, but it was never able
to be served upon Scott.
00:13:12
Scott returned to
the family home, packed up all of his belongings,
and also went to the bank
00:13:19
and cleaned out
Scott and Lori's bank account of all of their money. The police were unable to
serve the restraining order
00:13:26
or an arrest warrant on Scott
because he had left the state and moved to Virginia.
00:13:30
He had fled because
of that underlying criminal investigation and
the forthcoming arrest.
00:13:36
NARRATOR: Out of the clutches
of Connecticut State law, Scott Gellatly began
a vicious campaign
00:13:41
against Lori on social media. He starts posting
lies about Lori, saying that she's having
affairs, she's cheating on him,
00:13:48
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.
00:13:56
That just doesn't
sound like Lori at all. NARRATOR: The family-loving
Lori Jackson, a regular member
00:14:00
of the congregation
at this church, was the victim of
a Facebook libel. But the perpetrator,
her own husband Scott,
00:14:08
had left her with bigger
things to worry about. Well, he had left
Connecticut with a shotgun.
00:14:15
There was a shotgun
that was in the house that he took with him when
he cleaned out the house.
00:14:20
I think everything
put together led them to be very concerned about
Scott, in particular because he
00:14:27
had taken that weapon. NARRATOR: Worse was to
come thanks to a loophole in the law.
00:14:32
Scott had traveled
to a different state where he could, in
spite of the court orders and arrest warrant,
buy himself another gun.
00:14:40
Scott purchased the
firearm while he was down south from a private party. Scott purchasing a
semiautomatic handgun
00:14:47
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.
00:14:53
And there's no background
check required. The law at the time in
the state of Connecticut
00:14:58
did not ban someone
from purchasing a firearm who was under a
temporary restraining order.
00:15:05
NARRATOR: Scott Gellatly was
now armed with two weapons, on the run from
Connecticut State Police,
00:15:10
and in a dangerous
state of mind. Once again, Lori sought
protection from the law.
00:15:16
Lori and her mother
go to the courts three times for three different
temporary restraining orders.
00:15:23
Those orders only last
a couple of weeks. Lori had called
the State Police on a number of occasions
asking what the status
00:15:30
of the investigation was. One of the state
troopers, I believe, had reached out and
was actually talking
00:15:37
or had talked to
Scott, who stated that he was going
to come and turn himself in to the State Police.
00:15:45
Obviously, that never occurred. So Lori goes
back to the judge. She's had several now
temporary restraining
00:15:52
orders against her husband. Now she asked the judge
for a permanent restraining order, which would last a year.
00:15:59
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
00:16:08
to go before the
hearing, Lori worried about what she might have
brought onto her own family.
00:16:13
They got panic
buttons for everyone, put alarms on the house
so if he did turn up then
00:16:20
they would be able to notify
authorities immediately. I think she thought
about every day
00:16:26
what would happen if he showed
up at my parents' house. What would happen to me?
00:16:30
And more importantly, what
would happen to my parents? Because she had this very,
very strong bond with them,
00:16:34
especially to her mother. The family was so
fearful for Lori. They hired a national
security company.
00:16:42
The Jackson family
had gone out and bought and a very elaborate
alarm system that was
00:16:49
hooked up to their family home. I think that they were living
in this state of perpetual fear.
00:16:55
NARRATOR: Lori's
father, Doug, became vital for her protection. But he couldn't
always be around.
00:17:00
They have developed
this routine. Whenever Doug leaves to
go to work or anywhere,
00:17:06
Lori locks the screen door and
locks the door with a deadbolt. I'm sure she even
felt guilty that she had
00:17:12
to bring that upon
her own parents, but there was
nowhere else to go. And that was truly where
she felt the safest.
00:17:18
NARRATOR: Defending
the house was top of the Jackson's priority list. But they found other ways
of protecting themselves.
00:17:25
They began to go up and down
the streets and tell people, if you see this guy in the
neighborhood or coming around,
00:17:33
please let us know
or call the police. NARRATOR: For Lori Jackson,
the next court appearance
00:17:38
couldn't come soon enough. Both Lori and
Scott are scheduled to appear in court on May 8 for
this restraining order hearing.
00:17:48
NARRATOR: Would they
get there on time? The day before the
hearing, Scott Gellatly
00:17:52
secretly returned
to Sioux Drive. On May 7, 2014,
Scott drove back to Connecticut from Virginia.
00:18:00
He's got Virginia
license plates, so he's not detected as he
comes back into the state.
00:18:05
Scott had gone to the home
very early in the morning. At dawn, he parks his truck
at the bottom of the hill
00:18:15
and around the corner
so no one can see him. And waited for Doug to leave. NARRATOR: Scott didn't
have long to wait.
00:18:23
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.
00:18:32
That left Lori and Mary alone
in the home with the twin-- Lori's twin children. As soon as Doug
leaves for work,
00:18:43
Scott springs into action. Scott went to the house and
started beating on the door.
00:18:50
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.
00:19:00
Nothing would have stopped
him getting to her. At that point, they
hit the panic buttons
00:19:06
that they had and set off the
alarms system within the home. NARRATOR: Lori's
9-1-1 call revealed
00:19:13
the horror of that moment. LORI JACKSON: He's trying
to break into my house. I have two kids I'm
trying to present
00:19:19
That's one of
the most terrifying 9-1-1 calls that I ever heard
in my 25 years as a prosecutor.
00:19:28
Lori Jackson is basically
pleading with the operator to get the Connecticut State
Police to the house as soon
00:19:35
as possible. Unfortunately, it
took a few minutes for a Connecticut
State Police trooper
00:19:42
to respond to the scene. And during that time is when
all of these horrible events
00:19:49
occurred. NARRATOR: Despite the protective
measures that the family had set up at the house and
Lori's desperate 9-1-1 call,
00:19:57
Scott Gellatly was
determined to get to her. He managed to get
inside the house anyways.
00:20:03
He bust through the kitchen
door and into the house. The women are screaming now.
00:20:09
They're terrified. This was a
premeditated attack. Scott had to drive from where
he was hiding out down south.
00:20:18
He had to come up here. He had to purchase a weapon. He had to drive back to Oxford.
00:20:24
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.
00:20:32
NARRATOR: Now that he was
inside the house, what was Scott Gellatly planning to do next?
00:20:38
LORI JACKSON (ON RECORDING):
He's coming upstairs. He's got a gun! [dramatic music playing]
00:20:52
Armed with the pistol that
he bought in Virginia, Scott Gellatly
had forced his way
00:20:57
into his mother-in-law's
house in the early morning of May 7, 2014. LORI JACKSON (ON RECORDING):
He's coming upstairs.
00:21:05
He's got a gun! When she realized that
Scott was not going away, he had basically pushed
his way into the house.
00:21:12
He wasn't leaving. They were screaming and arguing. And she saw how riled up he was.
00:21:18
She knew he was serious. NARRATOR: With his 18-month-old
twins asleep upstairs, Scott turned his anger
on his wife, Lori.
00:21:26
A loud argument
had ensued where he was demanding that Lori
come with him to the lake.
00:21:33
At that point, she was
obviously refusing. The family dog was
there and was barking.
00:21:39
NARRATOR: It wasn't just
Lori who faced Scott's fury. Lori's mother, Mary, was
in the firing line too.
00:21:45
Mary and Lori were fighting
for their lives against Scott. Scott shoves
Mary to the floor.
00:21:53
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
00:21:59
was important to Lori at that
point in her life, the most important thing in
her life, because he
00:22:04
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
00:22:11
twins are in the house
sleeping in their beds. NARRATOR: Lori begged
her husband not
00:22:16
to go through with his plan. Lori was pleading
for Scott to not do anything to the children,
to not harm her mom.
00:22:25
Scott pointed the gun
at Mary, Lori's mother. And as he did so, she began to
yell, please, don't kill Mommy.
00:22:34
Don't kill Mommy. She did in fact, attempt
to shield her mother when the shooting began.
00:22:41
When she threw herself
in front of her mother, she 100% thought that
she was going to die.
00:22:46
She was going to sacrifice
her life for her mother because she knew that
Scott wouldn't stop.
00:22:51
Lori throws her body
in front of her mom. And Scott takes his weapon,
aims it, and fires four times.
00:23:00
Four shots. One of them straight
to the heart. Mary's screaming. Scott fires four times.
00:23:08
Now Mary's down. And Lori is killed. Lori is dead. The dog, Nikka, is
trying to protect them.
00:23:17
And he shoots the dog as well. NARRATOR: By the time police
arrived minutes later,
00:23:22
the gunman was gone. Scott managed to flee. Scott takes off in Lori's car. One of the things
that she indicated
00:23:30
was that one of their
family cars, a truck, was taken by Scott,
that Scott had indicated
00:23:37
that he wanted the keys. And he said, are these
the keys to your car? NARRATOR: Kevin Lawler
was the senior law
00:23:42
officer at the crime scene. I've been a prosecutor
for about 25 years. And when I was the State's
Attorney in Milford,
00:23:50
I primarily handled
the most serious cases in the district,
murder, sexual assault,
00:23:55
arson, those types of things. When the crime first occurred,
we responded to the scene
00:23:59
in order to ascertain
what was going on. As the Chief Law Enforcement
Officer in the district,
00:24:04
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
00:24:10
and that the interior door
had been forcibly opened. NARRATOR: Inside the
house, police officers
00:24:16
found a blood bath. They quickly ascertained
that both Mary and Lori were severely wounded.
00:24:25
They were also able to obtain
some information from Mary, who was still awake at the time.
00:24:34
Scott takes off in Lori's car. Mary is rushed to a hospital. Miraculously, she will survive.
00:24:41
NARRATOR: For cops, there was
an almost certain knowledge of who the perpetrator was.
00:24:45
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
00:24:53
and corroborating that story
and finding that person. NARRATOR: And in
Gellatly's case,
00:24:57
they knew he was speeding away
in a car stolen from the scene. He then fled in that vehicle.
00:25:03
And they were able to figure out
fairly quickly what type of car that they were looking for.
00:25:10
NARRATOR: Scott
Gellatly had managed to evade the law up to now. Could he do it again?
00:25:16
Police are going to be
on particularly high alert because this is a person
who has nothing to lose.
00:25:21
NARRATOR: As daylight came and
the morning rush hour began, law enforcement agencies faced
a race against time to track
00:25:27
down the reckless gunman. Police pulled out all
stops to find Scott. Scott had fled.
00:25:33
No one knew where he was. He had expressed grievances for
other members of the family,
00:25:39
for some of Lori's
other friends. So the first priority, along
with looking and trying
00:25:46
to capture Scott as
fast as possible, was to protect all of
those other individuals who
00:25:51
they thought that
Scott may be coming to settle some scores with. Police launch a
massive manhunt.
00:25:57
We were unsure whether Scott
had remained in the area, whether he was seeking out
these other individuals who we
00:26:06
thought he might want
to settle a score with, or whether he had perhaps
even fled the state.
00:26:11
NARRATOR: Police, FBI agents,
the state attorney, all of them joined the chase. The Connecticut
State Police quickly
00:26:17
assembled a group of partner
law enforcement agencies who together were attempting
to try and track Scott down.
00:26:25
We were all there trying
to figure out really where Scott could have gone
and how we could track him,
00:26:32
whether that be through his
cell phone or through the car or through some of
the reports that we
00:26:38
were getting in of where
the vehicle might be. Police officers were dispatched
to find Lori's sister,
00:26:46
to find some friends of Lori's
who she worked with who they were concerned about as well.
00:26:53
NARRATOR: Helicopters
equipped with thermal scanners scoured the area in a
bid to track Scott down.
00:26:59
They put schools on lockdown. They closed highways. They used Sheriff's
Department and State
00:27:06
Police thermal imaging. They did everything
they possibly could to track this man At
00:27:11
At the same time of putting
out an all points bulletin throughout the
state of Connecticut
00:27:16
to try and locate that vehicle
that State Police believed Scott had fled in, we were
looking all over the state
00:27:23
of Connecticut and basically
anywhere he could have gone during that time frame.
00:27:29
NARRATOR: Even detectives in
New York were on high alert in case he tried
to escape that way.
00:27:34
We were monitoring the
bridges through New York City to see if that license plate
was going across, like,
00:27:40
the George Washington Bridge. NARRATOR: For six hours, as
Mary Jackson fought for her life
00:27:44
in hospital, officers searched
for her daughter Lori's killer. Then a break. Scott tries to shake
them off his tail.
00:27:52
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.
00:28:02
And they see this vehicle
that doesn't belong there in the parking lot. And the keys are inside.
00:28:10
They look at their records
and they find that oh, this belongs to Lori Gellatly.
00:28:14
She had brought her car
in here several years ago. Wait a minute, maybe this is
connected to that big manhunt.
00:28:20
People there remembered
that they had did repairs for Lori Gellatly and
immediately decided that they
00:28:27
needed to notify authorities. NARRATOR: Scott had
dumped the getaway car and stolen another vehicle.
00:28:34
Finding that car and
with it the murderer Scott Gellatly would involve
another stroke of good fortune.
00:28:40
State Police received a tip
from a landowner in Litchfield County, which is
about 40 minutes
00:28:50
or 45 minutes from where
the scene of the crime-- where the crime occurred. NARRATOR: The landowner
had discovered
00:28:57
something mysterious. He owned a business
in Litchfield County that was currently unoccupied.
00:29:04
And within that unoccupied
business, in the parking lot, he noticed a vehicle
that was out of place,
00:29:11
that just shouldn't be there. He was able to obtain
the license plate number and get a general
description of the individual
00:29:19
who was seated in that vehicle. NARRATOR: When he
reported it to police, they knew they'd
found their man.
00:29:26
All nearby law enforcement
was responding to that scene as fast as possible. NARRATOR: Although there
seemed to be no sign of danger
00:29:35
when they arrived,
officers took no chances. As they approached, they
realized that the engine
00:29:41
was running, that there
was an individual inside of that truck. He sees this truck.
00:29:48
And it has a hose leading
from the exhaust pipe into the vehicle. They believe that this was a
suicide attempt at that point.
00:29:57
NARRATOR: Was Gellatly desperate
enough to now kill himself? Oftentimes, people make
this impulsive decision
00:30:05
after killing somebody to
also then take their own life because they really feel like
they've completely run out
00:30:10
of hope that anything
is going to change, that anything is
going to get better. NARRATOR: Had Scott Gellatly
taken the ultimate way out
00:30:18
to escape justice? [dramatic music playing] [music playing] Would Scott Gellatly's
suicide bid be successful?
00:30:32
Officers had found
the vehicle he was in and noticed the hose pipe
sticking out of the exhaust.
00:30:38
They immediately
went to the car, were able to open
the doors, extricate the individual inside.
00:30:46
And they immediately attempted
to perform life-saving measures on that individual.
00:30:52
They transported
Scott to the hospital. At that point, I believe it
was for non-life threatening
00:30:56
injuries. NARRATOR: With the full
facts still unknown, police weren't yet
ready to accuse
00:31:01
him of murdering his wife. But they had another
trick up their sleeves. When Scott recovers,
police take him
00:31:07
into custody on that
outstanding assault warrant. He was questioned by members
of the Connecticut State Police
00:31:15
after his rights were
read from the hospital. TAPED MALE VOICE: There was
a pretty serious incident.
00:31:21
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?
00:31:26
NARRATOR: Scott wasn't
giving anything away. Scott was very
noncommittal in his interview
00:31:32
with the State Police. He continually
said that he didn't remember anything about
going to the Jackson home
00:31:40
earlier that day. TAPED MALE VOICE: You
realized that, correct? Your kids are there.
00:31:45
Your wife is there. Your mother-in-law is there. And not once have you asked
me if your kids are OK.
00:31:52
SCOTT GELLATLY: Nobody told me. You just told me now. He wouldn't admit
to shooting either
00:31:58
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.
00:32:06
TAPED MALE VOICE: Don't you
think that's a little funny? If I was in your
position, unless I
00:32:10
knew what actually
transpired there, I think I-- no, no, no, no, no. You haven't been thinking.
00:32:15
You have not been thinking. NARRATOR: Within
hours of his arrest, Scott Gellatly appeared
before a judge.
00:32:22
He was presented in court
the next business day. And he was held on
a very high bond.
00:32:30
And then the case becomes about
marshaling all of that evidence in an attempt to
prove him guilty
00:32:35
beyond a reasonable
doubt at trial, should we have to go
in that direction. These types of
cases, while they may
00:32:42
seem uncomplicated
on the outside, they're actually
very complicated. We had one person who
was dead at the scene.
00:32:49
We had another person who,
when Scott was arraigned, she was still clinging to life.
00:32:54
We didn't know if Mary was
going to make it or not. The doctors couldn't
tell us that.
00:33:00
NARRATOR: Mary's survival
could prove crucial to the case against Scott Gellatly.
00:33:05
While we all had a very
good idea of the what and the how, being able to prove it
without Mary as an eyewitness,
00:33:13
if that were the case, was
something that was obviously very concerning to us. Mary miraculously recovers
from her gunshot wounds,
00:33:22
but she loses sight
in her left eye and she has some lingering pain. But she's alive.
00:33:27
Police charge Scott Gellatly
with murder, attempted murder, first-degree assault,
home invasion,
00:33:35
burglary, and robbery. They set his bail at $2 million. I was confident that if we
did go to trial that we would be
00:33:45
able to prove beyond
a reasonable doubt that Scott had
committed this crime. NARRATOR: Confidence
was one thing,
00:33:51
but as the man heading
the prosecution team, Kevin Lawler needed
to tread cautiously.
00:33:56
We believed that we had a
very strong case against Scott. As a prosecutor, you never
want to be overconfident.
00:34:05
NARRATOR: After more than a year
of evidence collection, data gathering, and
scientific testing,
00:34:11
the day arrived for Scott
Gellatly to face justice. In September of 2015, Scott
Gellatly appears in court.
00:34:19
He has entered a plea of
not guilty to his charges. So many of Lori's
supporters have turned out.
00:34:26
They've had to move the court
proceedings to a larger room to accommodate everyone.
00:34:30
For just the two most
serious charges against Scott, murder of Lori Jackson
and attempted murder
00:34:37
of Mary Jackson,
Scott was facing up to 120 years in prison
for those two offenses.
00:34:43
NARRATOR: The crowd
in court awaiting Scott Gellatly's trial
for the murder of his wife
00:34:48
were in for a surprise. Scott faces the judge. And he stuns the crowd when
he enters a plea of guilty.
00:34:58
You can hear gasps going
out through the courtroom. NARRATOR: Facing a
strong prosecution case,
00:35:04
Gellatly dodged a full trial
for the murder of his wife Lori and the attempted murder
of his mother-in-law Mary,
00:35:11
thanks to a legal ruse available
to defendants in the USA. Scott's plea is what's
known as an Alford plea.
00:35:19
He's not admitting
to any of the crimes, but he is admitting that
there is enough evidence
00:35:26
to land a conviction. So Scott is convicted
on all counts. We never got to talk to Scott.
00:35:33
Scott gave a statement at his
sentencing and that's about it. NARRATOR: In November
2015, Scott Gellatly struck
00:35:40
a deal with the State Attorney. What we finally
agreed to was an agreed upon sentence of 45
years to serve for murder
00:35:52
and for attempted murder. Effectively, it's a
life sentence for him. NARRATOR: And although
Mary and Doug Jackson faced
00:35:59
their own life sentence, a life
without their daughter Lori, it was a result
they could agree to.
00:36:06
They felt confident that that
45 year sentence was something that was reasonable and
something that avoided
00:36:13
the uncertainties of a trial. They were happy to
see it resolved. And they were also happy to
have Scott say those words,
00:36:22
that he had done it. NARRATOR: Gellatly had
more to say though. In court, he delivered one final
blow to the Jackson family,
00:36:29
a family he had
tried to destroy. At his sentencing hearing,
Scott told the courtroom
00:36:37
that he had forgiven himself
and God had forgiven him, and that Lori was an angel and
he'd see her in heaven soon.
00:36:45
He called Lori his
angel, which really offended the Jackson
family, and offended
00:36:53
me, to be perfectly honest. He addresses the
packed courtroom. He says, God has
already forgiven me.
00:37:02
Lori is an angel. I will see her in heaven. I'm not the monster that
they made me out to be.
00:37:08
And someone in the courtroom
screams out, yes you are. It's pretty typical
of someone like Scott
00:37:13
to make those types
of assertions, that they're forgiven and
God has forgiven them,
00:37:17
because they will never
take the responsibility for what they have done
and whom they've hurt.
00:37:22
NARRATOR: Taking responsibility
was never on the cards for Scott Gellatly. Scott tells the crowd
that it was all a mistake.
00:37:30
He never intended
to kill anyone. It happens all the time. They have an overinflated
perception of themselves,
00:37:39
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
00:37:48
and trying to kill her
mother was not a mistake. Your actions were calculated,
contemplative, and intentional.
00:37:59
NARRATOR: Despite his
attempts to grandstand in front of the
courtroom, Gellatly
00:38:03
didn't get the last word. Lori's mother, Mary,
addresses the courtroom. And she tells them about
this unbreakable bond
00:38:14
she had with her
daughter, Lori, that Scott continuously tried to destroy. She says, that bond will
never ever be broken.
00:38:24
Mary Jackson gave what I could
only describe as an extremely heartfelt, emotional, loving
tribute to her daughter
00:38:36
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
00:38:47
of her life tell us all
we need to know about her. She risked her own life
to save her mother's.
00:38:56
She knew she was going to die. NARRATOR: In the wake
of Lori's murder, her parents began a
campaign to change the law.
00:39:03
That was something that this
case revealed as a loophole in the state of Connecticut's
firearms purchase laws.
00:39:12
So one of the things that
the Jackson family felt very strongly about was lobbying
our legislature and Congress
00:39:20
to change that law. After Lori's death,
the state of Connecticut passed the Lori Jackson
Domestic Violence
00:39:28
Survivor Protection Act. That law was changed two
years after this crime occurred
00:39:36
to prevent people
similar to Scott from being allowed
to purchase firearms if they were under a
temporary restraining order.
00:39:43
NARRATOR: Scott
Gellatly's story, meanwhile, had a final twist. Scott pled to the maxim
chargers that he faced.
00:39:52
And he was sentenced
to what turned out to be a life sentence
for him, seeing as how he died in prison.
00:40:00
On December 21,
2018, Scott Gellatly is found dead in his cell. I received word from the
Department of Corrections
00:40:10
that Scott had died
in their custody. His death is ruled a
suicide caused by poisoning.
00:40:19
He was given certain
prescription medication, which he hoarded and then took it.
00:40:24
He had administered
himself a fatal combination of antihistamine
and antidepressant.
00:40:31
There has been no
confirmation of suicide. But again, there has been no
confirmation of foul play.
00:40:38
NARRATOR: Mary Jackson
survived the horrific attack, but she lost the
sight in one eye
00:40:43
and her beloved daughter,
Gellatly's wife Lori. The Jackson family, from the
day this occurred until today,
00:40:52
have been fierce advocates
for greater funding for domestic violence,
for more effective laws
00:41:02
dealing with handguns
and domestic violence. And that their pain
and their suffering
00:41:08
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.
00:41:15
We're better off today because
of Mary Jackson and her family. [music playing] [dramatic music playing]