Latest / Murder Files Unsealed / Serial Killer "The Beast" Killed Multiple People Including his Mother
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: All right, so get ready because today we are diving deep,
- 0:03deep into a case that's well, it's chilling and complex.
- 0:08We're gonna be taking a look at the beast ooh yeah,
- 0:12kind of send shivers down your spine.
- 0:14Speaker 2: Yeah, a little bit.
- 0:14Speaker 1: And that was the self proclaimed title of Keith Gibson.
- 0:17And you'll see why as we go through his story.
- 0:19But he had a long criminal history and after being
- 0:22released from prison back in twenty twenty, he suspected of
- 0:25going on this really terrifying six month killing spree six months, yeah,
- 0:30across Delaware and Pennsylvania, leaving six victims in his wake.
- 0:34Speaker 2: Wow.
- 0:35Speaker 1: It's heavy stuff, I know, but we're in this together.
- 0:37We're gonna unpack it piece by piece. We've got court records,
- 0:41news reports, we even got victim impact statements to help
- 0:43us figure out exactly what happened. The biggest question we're
- 0:46looking at here is how did Gibson's past, the things
- 0:49the justice system did, and what seemed like missed morning signs,
- 0:53how did all of that lead to this tragic chain
- 0:56of events. Yeah.
- 0:57Speaker 2: I think this case is just so interesting because it
- 1:00really shows how difficult it can be to balance rehabilitation
- 1:03with keeping the public safe.
- 1:04Speaker 1: Absolutely, So to understand how things got so out of control,
- 1:07we've got to rewind a bit. We've got to look
- 1:09at Gibson's history and his criminal record. It goes way
- 1:13way back, long before the twenty twenty one spree.
- 1:16Speaker 2: Oh yeah. If you look at his pattern of offenses,
- 1:19it paints a very clear picture. Weppe's charges forgery, assault,
- 1:24drug dealing. So this shows us a long history of
- 1:26criminal behavior.
- 1:27Speaker 1: Yeah, and then there's kind of a turning point. Right
- 1:29in twenty ten, he's convicted of manslaughter and possessing a
- 1:33firearm while committing a felony. Right, and this all stemmed
- 1:36from a two thousand and eight incident that happened in Wilmington, Delaware,
- 1:39where he fatally shot someone and that landed him a
- 1:41thirteen year prison sentence.
- 1:43Speaker 2: And that manslaughter conviction, that's key. This is what labeled
- 1:46him a habitual offender in the eyes of the law.
- 1:49And this isn't just a label or a term. It
- 1:51has serious consequences, impact sentencing, parole decisions, you name it.
- 1:55Speaker 1: So if I'm getting this right, this label is basically
- 1:58flagging him as someone who's likely to affend.
- 2:00Speaker 2: And again, yeah, exactly, it raises a huge red flag
- 2:02for the system.
- 2:03Speaker 1: Okay, got it. So let's fast forward to June twenty
- 2:06twenty Gibson's release from prison. She's ordered to stay at
- 2:10a community correction center for six months. Okay, Now, if
- 2:14you aren't familiar, these centers are kind of like halfway houses, right,
- 2:18designed to help offenders get back into society. But even
- 2:21in this structured setting, warning signs start to show up,
- 2:25like what, well, he gets into fights with other offenders,
- 2:29ends up back in prison because he violated the terms
- 2:31of his release.
- 2:32Speaker 2: Yeah, this is where you start to see this system
- 2:34trying to I guess manage him, but it's almost like
- 2:38they're putting a band aid in a much, much deeper wound.
- 2:41They're not really getting to the root of the problem.
- 2:43Speaker 1: And then this next part, it's just it's bone chilling. Really.
- 2:46Reports say that Gibson's own mother warned friends and family
- 2:49that and I quote, if anything happens to me, my
- 2:52son is responsible. Oh wow, it's a terrifying premonition, right,
- 2:55because less than a year later, that's scary. In February
- 2:58twenty twenty one, Christine Gibson, who was a mental health counselor,
- 3:02is found shot to death in her office in Philadelphia.
- 3:06Oh my gosh, it's just heartbreaking.
- 3:08Speaker 2: And it gets even more disturbing. Actually, Philadelphia police believe
- 3:13that just a month before his mother's murder in January
- 3:16twenty twenty one, Gibson killed two men. Oh no, yeah,
- 3:20Eric Flores and Roy Coben. They owned a store in
- 3:24North Philadelphia and were both found shot in the head.
- 3:27Ballistics testing connected their murders to Gibson's gun.
- 3:30Speaker 1: Wait, so hold on, I just want to rewind for
- 3:31a sec because this is where things take a really,
- 3:34really dark turn. He's already suspected of two murders before
- 3:38his mother's death. Yeah, and this is all while he's
- 3:41supposed to be under supervision.
- 3:43Speaker 2: It makes you wonder just how effective that supervision really was. Huh.
- 3:46He was actually detained in Philadelphia at some point for
- 3:49violating his probation by leaving Delaware. Oh wow, that's how
- 3:52much he was just disregarding the rules.
- 3:54Speaker 1: So you would think that would set off some huge
- 3:56alarm bells, you know, in the system. Right. But get this,
- 3:59even though the Delaware Department of Corrections recommended a six
- 4:02and a half year sentence because of that probation violations
- 4:05and half years. The judge only gave him thirty one
- 4:08days time served. What he walked free in April twenty
- 4:12twenty one.
- 4:13Speaker 2: Wow, and just three weeks later he commits his next murder.
- 4:17Oh my god, this is mind blowing. What went wrong here?
- 4:21Speaker 1: This is where things really start to make you think.
- 4:24Was it a lack of communication between different agencies? Did
- 4:27they not understand how dangerous he was? These are the
- 4:30tough questions that need to be asked if we want
- 4:32to stop this from happening again.
- 4:34Speaker 2: Absolutely, And the next murder it was particularly brutal. Okay,
- 4:39May fifteenth, Gibson walks into a Metro PCs store in Ellesmere, Delaware,
- 4:44robs and fatally shut's twenty eight year old Leslie Ruiz Basilio.
- 4:49We're talking a cold blooded execution, all caught on surveillance footage.
- 4:54Speaker 1: Yeah, the footage is chilling. You can see the fear
- 4:56in her eyes as she's following his demands and he
- 4:59still shoots her point blank range.
- 5:01Speaker 2: It's hard to even grasp that level of violence. And
- 5:03it didn't stop there. It was just the start of
- 5:05a horrifying escalation.
- 5:07Speaker 1: So on June fifth, he strikes again, this time back
- 5:10in Philadelphia Christine Lugo, a forty year old mother and
- 5:13Duncan store manager. She's opening up the shop when Gibson
- 5:15forces his way in. I actually saw the surveillance video
- 5:18from that Duncan and it is just devastating. You see
- 5:21him shoving her inside, robs the store, takes about three
- 5:24hundred dollars, and then just shoots her in the head.
- 5:26It's like he had zero regard for human life.
- 5:29Speaker 2: And you don't remember all of this is happening in
- 5:31such a short amount of time. You can see a
- 5:33clear escalation. The violence is more impulsive, more brazen, like
- 5:37there's less planning involved.
- 5:39Speaker 1: It really does feel like a runaway train. In Just
- 5:42hours after killing Christine Lugo, he's back in Delaware. Early
- 5:45morning on June sixth, he shoots and kills forty two
- 5:48year old Ronald Wright during a street robbery. It came
- 5:51out later that Wright's home was named for drug activity
- 5:54and Gibson was found with Wright's shoulder bag.
- 5:57Speaker 2: So not only are the crimes becoming more frequent and
- 6:00or violent, but they're also more opportunistic. You know, he's
- 6:03basically targeting anyone he thinks is vulnerable, easy to take
- 6:06advantage of him.
- 6:07Speaker 1: Yeah, like all his inhibitions are just gone, and it
- 6:09seems like he was getting more and more reckless. Later
- 6:12that same day, June sixth, he walks into a Rite
- 6:14Aid in Wilmington, Delaware. He robs the place and shoots
- 6:18the clerk, Belah.
- 6:19Speaker 2: Almondsory Almonsuri's story is pretty wild. The first shot actually
- 6:24missed him, so he played dead on the floor, but
- 6:27Gibson came back shot him in the head and then
- 6:30get this, he turns to shoot him again before he
- 6:32finally leaves the store.
- 6:34Speaker 1: Wow, that's chilling. It's a miracle he survived.
- 6:37Speaker 2: It is, and his testimony actually ended up being super
- 6:41important during Gibson's trial. But it does make you wonder,
- 6:44you know, what would make someone do something that brutal.
- 6:48Was it just about the money or was it something darker?
- 6:52A need for power, control, total disregard for the consequences
- 6:56of his actions.
- 6:57Speaker 1: These are the questions that criminologists and psychologists, I mean,
- 7:00they could spend years trying to figure that out. But luckily,
- 7:03Gibson's reign of terror ended just two days after the
- 7:05Right Age shooting.
- 7:06Speaker 2: Right June eighth, twenty twenty one, he tries to rob
- 7:09another store, but this time the clerk is super quick thinking.
- 7:13He manages to slip a GPS tracker in with the
- 7:16cash that he hands over.
- 7:17Speaker 1: Wow, talk about thinking on your feet, right, So that
- 7:20GPS tracker led the police straight to Gibson.
- 7:22Speaker 2: Exactly, and when they arrested him, he had on a
- 7:25bulletproof vest, he was armed with a knife and carrying
- 7:28a loaded revolver. They later linked that revolver to a
- 7:31bunch of the murders.
- 7:32Speaker 1: So in a way, you could say Gibson's own carelessness
- 7:34that's what got him caught, but the damage was already done.
- 7:37Six lives loss, families torn apart. Community is just devastated
- 7:41by all this senseless violence.
- 7:43Speaker 2: It's hard to even imagine the pain the families are
- 7:45going through. But the good news is they were able
- 7:48to get some justice.
- 7:49Speaker 1: So tell me about that. What happened after they caught him?
- 7:52Speaker 2: Okay, So, in November twenty twenty three, a jury in
- 7:55Delaware found Gibson guilty of two murders, Leslie Ruiz Basilio
- 7:59and Ronald Wright. They also found him guilty of the
- 8:02attempted murder of Blaal Almonsori and like a ton of
- 8:05other charges too.
- 8:07Speaker 1: That's a long list. Sounds like the prosecution at a
- 8:09really strong case.
- 8:10Speaker 2: They did. Yeah, surveillance, footage, ballistics, witness testimony. There was
- 8:14no getting around it. So because of that, in March
- 8:17twenty twenty four, Gibson was sentenced to seven life terms
- 8:20in prison, plus an extra two hundred and ninety six years.
- 8:23Speaker 1: Seven life sentences. Wow, that is heavy. Sounds like the
- 8:28judge wanted to make it very clear that this kind
- 8:30of violence is just not going to fly. But this
- 8:32brings us to something pretty interesting. While Gibson was on
- 8:36trial and being sentenced in Delaware, charges were being prepared
- 8:39against him in Pennsylvania for the murders of his mother,
- 8:42Christine Gibson, Eric Flores, Roy Coban, and Christine Lugo.
- 8:47Speaker 2: Right, And even though Gibson is already serving life, those
- 8:51families in Philadelphia they want justice too.
- 8:54Speaker 1: So even though he's been convicted and sentenced for some
- 8:57of what he did, they want to make sure that
- 8:59he's held account.
- 9:00Speaker 2: For everything exactly. It's definitely a tricky situation. Extradition for
- 9:04a prisoner who's serving life. That's rare and some people
- 9:08might say a second trial is pointless since he's already
- 9:10never getting out.
- 9:11Speaker 1: Yeah, I can see why some people would say that,
- 9:13like he's already never getting out, what's the point of
- 9:15another trial.
- 9:16Speaker 2: That's a good point. But for the families, it's not
- 9:18about adding more years to his sentence.
- 9:20Speaker 1: So it's about something much deeper than.
- 9:21Speaker 2: That, right, It's about closure, you know, for them, it's
- 9:24about acknowledging the pain and the loss that they've suffered,
- 9:27and it's about holding him accountable for everything he did,
- 9:30every single horrific act.
- 9:32Speaker 1: And you know, speaking of the families, Christine Lego's daughter,
- 9:35Francis Rodriguez, she's been very vocal about wanting justice for
- 9:39her mother.
- 9:40Speaker 2: Yeah, she gave this really powerful statement, she said, I
- 9:43deserve closure on the situation, and my mom deserves justice.
- 9:47She loved us all and she honestly was just a
- 9:49shining light in all of our lives.
- 9:51Speaker 1: It's just a heartbreaking reminder that, you know, behind the
- 9:53headlines and the legal stuff, these are real people whose
- 9:56lives have been completely shattered.
- 9:58Speaker 2: Absolutely. While nothing can ever bring back the people that
- 10:02were lost, maybe seeing Gibson held accountable in both states
- 10:05can at least offer them some peace and some healing.
- 10:08Speaker 1: This whole deep dive has been really heavy, but it's
- 10:10also been eye opening, and it feels like it's about
- 10:13so much more than just Keith Gibson. It's about the
- 10:15cracks in the system and how he seemed to slip
- 10:17through and the warning signs that were maybe missed or ignored.
- 10:21Speaker 2: Yeah, and if you look at the bigger picture, it
- 10:23really makes us ask some tough questions about our justice system.
- 10:26How do we balance rehabilitation with keeping the public safe,
- 10:30How do we identify and manage these high risk individuals
- 10:32like Gibson? And what responsibility do we have as a
- 10:36society to listen to those warning signs to protect people
- 10:40who could be victims.
- 10:41Speaker 1: It's like his mother's please for help. Those words are
- 10:44just haunting now looking back, it makes you wonder if
- 10:46things could have been different.
- 10:48Speaker 2: It's a sad reminder that sometimes people try to raise
- 10:50the alarm, but the system doesn't respond the right way,
- 10:53and unfortunately, it's often the people who need the most
- 10:55help who end up paying the price.
- 10:56Speaker 1: This case really shows how everything is connected. Individual choices,
- 11:01systemic failures, societal biases. It's this complex web and there
- 11:06just aren't any easy answers exactly.
- 11:08Speaker 2: But by really looking at these tough questions, by examining
- 11:11cases like Gibson's with a critical eye, we can hopefully
- 11:15start to see where we can improve, where we can
- 11:18prevent these tragedies from happening again.
- 11:20Speaker 1: We can't change what's already happened, but we can learn
- 11:22from it. We can push for changes, better communication between agencies,
- 11:27better risk assessment tools. We can work to create a
- 11:30system that values both accountability and rehabilitation, a system that
- 11:34protects victims and gives second chances when it's appropriate.
- 11:37Speaker 2: And maybe most importantly, we can try to build a
- 11:40society that recognizes that everyone is human, a society that
- 11:44values empathy and understanding, and that doesn't shy away from
- 11:48hard conversations about crime and punishment.
- 11:50Speaker 1: So what does all of this mean for you listening
- 11:52right now, Well, it's a call to action. Educate yourself
- 11:55about the justice system in your community, Support organizations that
- 11:57are working to stop crime and help victims. Have those
- 12:00tough conversations about these issues, because even small actions can
- 12:04make a difference in creating a safer and more just
- 12:06society for everyone.
- 12:08Speaker 2: We might never fully understand what made Keith Gibson do
- 12:11these awful things? But by looking at his case, by
- 12:14analyzing the systemic things that contributed to it, by honoring
- 12:17the memory of his victims, we can try to make
- 12:19sure that something like this never happens again.
- 12:21Speaker 1: It's been a heavy deep dive, but a really important one.
- 12:25Thank you for joining us today as we talked about
- 12:27these difficult questions, and remember this conversation doesn't end here.
- 12:31We've included some resources in the show notes if you
- 12:33want to learn more about the case, about victim advocacy groups,
- 12:36or about ways to get involved in your own community.
- 12:39Speaker 2: Keep asking questions, keep learning, keep pushing for a better future,
- 12:43because even in the face of darkness, there's always hope
- 12:46for change.