the story
The Killings
In the 1970s, seven elderly women were raped and strangled to death in Columbus, Georgia. The killer left few clues.
The town was terrified. Despite a massive investigation, no one was officially arrested until 1984, when police connected a charismatic thief, Carlton Gary, to a gun stolen from the same neighborhood as the killings.
The Trial
The original trial seemed cut and dried. Gary had served time for robbing two elderly women in New York, one of whom was raped and killed. He had escaped from prison and returned to Columbus around the time the “Stocking Stranglings” began.
Police officers testified Gary admitted to being at the Columbus crime scenes. Forensic scientists said fingerprints from three of the murders matched Gary’s. A surviving witness identified Gary in court.
Gary was convicted and sentenced to death.
The appeals
Over the next thirty years of appeals, evidence began to surface that raised doubts about Gary’s guilt. Footprints found at multiple crime scenes were four sizes smaller than Gary’s. His hair didn’t match the killer’s. A bitemark found on one of the victims was different than Gary’s teeth.
Then, semen samples taken from the victims were discovered in the police evidence room. DNA results were conflicting.
The semen found on the surviving witness who identified Gary in court did not match.
The largest sample found on the fifth victim didn’t match Gary, either, then the lab said it had been contaminated and consumed, so it couldn’t be re-tested.
A third sample allegedly matched, but Gary wasn’t charged for that particular murder.
The Execution
The judge refused to order a new trial or additional tests. He ruled that none of the new evidence was material enough to have changed the outcome of the original trial.
The United States Supreme Court declined to review the case, and on March 15, 2018, Carlton Gary was executed by lethal injection. He didn’t order any last meal. He didn’t say any last words. He just walked into the death chamber with his eyes closed, lied down on the table, and died.
Was Carlton Gary the Stocking Strangler?
Will we ever really know?
How important is “truth” in the American criminal justice system?
These are just a few of the questions we will explore in the true crime documentary series, Strangled. Coming soon!
FEATURING
Carlton Gary’s FAMILY AND FRIENDS.
RELATIVES of the victims.
POLICE AND PROSECUTORS who worked the original cases.
JOURNALISTS who covered the original investigation and subsequent trials.
The CAPITAL DEFENSE LAWYERS who represented Carlton Gary for over thirty years.
JURORS who voted to convict and sentence Carlton Gary to death.
TOWNSPEOPLE who lived in Columbus during the killings.
Renowned legal and forensic EXPERTS.
Never-before-seen PHOTOGRAPHS and FOOTAGE.
THE CREW
Donna Musil
Writer-Director-Producer
Meg Cormier
Writer-Producer
Aidan McCarthy
Director of Cinematography
Carlos Simon
Composer
STAGE OF PRODUCTION
For the past six years, Blind Turtle Productions has been poring over thousands of police documents, lab reports, evidence, and court transcripts while interviewing law enforcement, attorneys, criminal justice experts, journalists, townspeople, and friends and family of Carlton Gary and the victims. We have completed 95% of our interviews, and collected almost all of the b-roll, archival footage, and still photos needed.
The film has been shot in 4K.
Editing has begun and musical themes are being developed.
Scheduled completion date: 2023
