ID's American Monster: What happened to Tammy Gardner?

In the early hours of July 9, 2006, Tammy Gardner, a mother-of-two, was bludgeoned to death inside her home in the Woodcreek development of Wilmington. A man who was present with her at the time - her alleged boyfriend Gabriel Gabrielli - was also murdered. Four days later, their charred bodies were found inside Gardner's partly burned van at Tweed’s Park.

An investigation later revealed that Tammy's obsessive ex-boyfriend Clifford Wright, with whom she ended things not long before the attack and who was stalking her - which caused her to fear for her life - was behind the gruesome murder. Wright was sentenced to life in prison after a jury found him guilty of four counts of first-degree murder and other related charges.

Tammy Gardner's murder case will feature on an upcoming episode of ID's American Monster this Sunday. The all-new episode titled You Got Me Mean will air on January 8, 2023, at 9.00 pm ET.

The synopsis reads:

"Tammy Gardner loves being a mom and running a day care out of her suburban Delaware home; she also loves a night out on the town; what starts as innocent fun leads this 40-year-old down a dark path of jealousy and deadly rage."

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Tammy Gardner's ex-boyfriend Clifford Wright continuously stalked and harassed her for days after their break up in July 2006

Tammy Gardner, a Delaware mother-of-two, used to live with her then-boyfriend Clifford Wright. The couple shared a complicated relationship and would often argue. However, Gardner ended their relationship after an argument on July 1, 2006, and asked Clifford to move out of her house with all his belongings.

According to reports, this is when Clifford began to stalk and follow Tammy and repeatedly call her and drop threatening messages. He would make excuses to return to her house in the days that followed their break-up, even after she decided to sever all ties with him.

He once followed Tammy to the Good Shot Bar in Wilmington, where he sat watching her and Gabriel Gabrielli for hours. He then called authorities and her ex-husband, accusing her of doing drugs and claiming that she was unfit to be a mother. He even left her voicemails and said that she "played with the wrong person."

It was during the early hours of July 6, when Tammy called the cops on him and he was soon arrested outside the Good Shot Bar. However, he was released from custody that morning and resumed following her throughout the day, causing her to fear for her life. Tammy was scared and shaken by the stalking. The next day, Clifford phoned her workplace and accused her of doing drugs.

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Tammy Gardner and her boyfriend were bludgeoned to death with a "baseball bat or a hammer"

The following day, Tammy Gardner reportedly sent her children over to her ex-husband Scott Gardner's house after getting worried about their safety and asked one of her neighbors to keep an eye out for Clifford Wright, her stalker. That night, she went out with her alleged boyfriend Gabriel Gabrielli, and another friend, Kelly Culpepper, and returned home late.

Culpepper left during the early morning hours of July 9 and was the last person to see the two individuals alive. Gabrielli, 41, and Gardner, 40, were both attacked inside the house by Wright, who used a "baseball bat or a hammer" to bludgeon the two to death while they slept in bed. He then cleaned the crime scene, loaded their bodies in Tammy's minivan, took the vehicle to Tweed’s Park, and set it on fire.

The partially charred van with burned bodies and other bloody evidence was found by construction workers four days later. The victims were soon identified, and an investigation led to the arrest of Clifford Wright. He was found guilty on multiple counts, including four counts of first-degree murder, among other charges, and sentenced to life in prison.

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Tune in to American Monster on ID this Sunday, January 8, to learn more about Tammy Gardner's horrifying case.