After twenty-nine-year-old Ima Gaskin shot and killed Charles Spencer in her home at Hayti, Missouri, late Friday afternoon, June 15, 1934, she told the local constable who showed up that she'd accidentally shot the man.
At a coroner’s inquest held in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, Ima elaborated on her version of what happened. She said the 50-year-old Spencer was a close friend of her and her husband and often visited in their home. When he came to their house on Friday, she was sick in bed, and he sat in a chair at her bedside. They started kidding around, saying they should both be run out of town, and then started joking about shooting each other
Spencer pulled out his revolver, removed a handful of cartridges, and handed the weapon to Ima. Thinking it was empty, she pointed it at him and pulled the trigger. But instead of snapping on an empty cylinder, the gun went off, striking Spencer in the head. Ima said Spencer spoke several words to her, saying he didn't blame her, before slumping down in his chair and dying.
After examining the body, however, the coroner said the path of the bullet would have caused instantaneous death and that the victim could not have spoken after the bullet ripped through his brain. Also, the constable said he didn't think the revolver that Ima had turned over to him as the supposed murder weapon had been fired in several days. He didn't believe Spencer had been killed with his own gun, as she maintained.
Derondia Dunning, an attractive twenty-three-year-old woman who was separated from her husband, was a surprise witness at the hearing. She admitted she had been having an affair with the much-older Spencer, and she told of a letter he had received the previous day while she was at his house. The letter was from Ima Gaskin demanding that he choose between her and Ms. Dunning, beseeching him to come to her house the next day, and saying he was a coward if he didn't. Ms. Dunning said Spencer was very upset by the missive.
On Friday evening, the coroner’s jury returned an open verdict, leaving the pursuit of charges in the case up to the prosecuting attorney and the victim’s family. Constable Wyrick continued his investigation into the case that same evening and found two letters from Ima Gaskin to Spencer. The first was the one Ms. Dunning had mentioned. Despite its threatening tone, it was signed "Love," as was the second one.
Ima's husband, Moreau Gaskin, vigorously denied that his wife had been involved in any sort of scandalous relationship, maintaining that he, his wife, and Spencer were just good friends.
Late Friday night, Wyrick arrested Mrs. Gaskin on a warrant charging her with murder, and she was taken to the Pemiscot County Jail. She was brought back to Hayti on June 20 for a preliminary hearing, and the judge ordered her held for trial on a first-degree-murder charge.
Ima’s trial was held at Caruthersville in early August 1934. Prosecutor Robert Hawkins sought to prove that the killing was a premediated murder resulting from “a triangular love tangle.” The constable, the coroner, and Ms. Dunning were again the main three state witnesses.
Moreau Gaskin took the stand in his wife’s defense, and Ima also testified in her own defense. She repeated her story of an accidental shooting and dismissed the two letters as "just foolishness."
However, the jurors were not convinced. They returned a verdict of second-degree murder and recommended punishment of 20 years in prison. Ima was transported to Jefferson City in early October. She was discharged under parole in January 1941 after serving a little over six years.
This story is condensed from a chapter in my latest book, Bandit Queen Bonnie Parker and Other Murderous Women of Missouri https://amzn.to/4uTqMw6.
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