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Gail and Stephen Dews were out hiking in March 2013 when the former went missing. The only person who seemed to have an account of her whereabouts was her husband, Stephen. However, he claimed he had no memory of the time his wife disappeared as he fell the ice.
Authorities investigated the case and it was revealed that Stephen strangulated Gail and then threw her into a ravine. Stephen thought it would be difficult for the investigators to get to the bottom of the case, but an eyewitness did him in.
Stephen was found guilty of his wife's murder and was sentenced to 16 years in prison. He is currently imprisoned in SCI Camp Hill in Pennsylvania.
Investigation Discovery's Fatal Vows' latest episode, titled Betting on Murder, will look into the details of this tragic murder. The episode will air on January 5 at 6 pm.
The synopsis of the episode reads as follows:
"Gail and Stephen Dews have it all: a happy marriage, a beautiful house and healthy children, but a family tragedy and a gambling addiction rips their lives to shreds, proving that nothing is what it seems."
Disclaimer: This article contains graphic descriptions of violence that may be disturbing to some readers. Viewer discretion is advised.
How did Stephen Dews carry out the murder?
Even though Stephen and Gail looked like the perfect couple on the outside, there were problems that others were not aware of.
Just before Stephen threw Gail into the ravine, the two had a heated argument. An eyewitness saw the couple fight and also heard Gail's shriek. She saw someone, whose physical appearance matched Stephen's, engaging in a fight with Gail.
According to investigators, Stephen strangulated Gail before throwing her into the ravine.
However, when Stephen was interrogated about the murder, he had a different story to tell. He told the police that he had accidentally fallen into the ice and become unconscious. As a result, he did not remember where his wife had gone.
Multiple accounts proved his story to be false
A day after killing his wife, Stephen went to a convenience store where he hardly interacted with anyone for a while. When the store manager insisted, he blurted out that he had met with an accident.
The store manager also noticed blood stains on his hand as well as on his shirt.
When the police got involved in the case, Stephen narrated his fake story first. But his version of the story about the position of the victim's body did not match the position in which the body was discovered.
After retrieving Gail's body from the bottom of the gorge, investigators found multiple blunt force injuries, inconsistent with Stephen's version of the story. An autopsy report also revealed that Gail suffered a fractured neck before falling inside the ravine and termed the case as a possible homicide. This was enough evidence to press a charge on Stephen.
Moreover, one month after Gail's death, Stephen transferred $135,000 from their joint account to his own.
Gail's family also reported that there were a number of marital problems that the couple had and Gail even considered a possible separation at one point.
