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Gibson to stand trial for second-degree murder
By Carey Phillips
A woman charged in connection with the death of her 8-year-old son, whose body was found in her car while she worked at an area nursing facility, was bound over to Superior Court following a probable cause hearing Tuesday (June 7).
District Court Judge Brad Letts found sufficient evidence to try 36-year-old Michelle Gibson of Asheville on second-degree murder and two counts of felony child abuse. Assistant District Attorney Roy Wijewickrama dismissed a charge of voluntary manslaughter against Gibson.
Defendant Michelle Gibson, left, and her lawyer, Randy Seago of Sylva, right, are escorted into Jackson County District Court Tuesday (June 7) by Sheriff Jimmy Ashe for her probable cause hearing. Judge Brad Letts determined the evidence against Gibson was sufficient to warrant a trial on charges of second-degree murder and felony child abuse. – Herald photo by Nick Breedlove
Gibson’s 8-year-old son, Devin, died Sunday, May 22, in her Ford Escort sedan while she worked at Mountain Trace Nursing Center off Little Savannah Road. Law enforcement officers say he was left in the car’s trunk while she worked a 16-hour shift as a certified nursing assistant.
While no evidence was presented during the hearing regarding the cause of death, Sheriff Jimmy Ashe has previously said preliminary autopsy reports indicate Devin Gibson died of hyperthermia (excessive heating) caused by being confined in an unventilated vehicle during a hot day.
Detective Patrick McCoy of the Sheriff’s Office took the stand Tuesday and recounted an interview he conducted with Gibson during the early morning hours of Monday, May 23, the day after her son died. The defendant sobbed during part of the testimony.
Gibson told McCoy that Devin was in the trunk of her vehicle while she and a co-worker, Alesia Adorno, drove from Asheville to Mountain Trace Saturday and Sunday, May 21 and 22. McCoy said Gibson told her son “to be real quiet” during the initial trip so Adorno would not know he was in the car. She told the detective she had no one to care for Devin and was ashamed to confide that to Adorno, whom she had met Friday, May 21.
Gibson put the child in the trunk around 5 a.m. Saturday when she left Asheville, and took him food and drinks several times during the day. He stayed in the trunk until almost midnight when they got back to Asheville and let Adorno out of the car.
Gibson’s statement indicates she overslept Sunday morning and left her residence at 5:45 a.m. when she again put Devin in the trunk on the way to picking up Adorno. At one point, Gibson said her son pushed the back seat down. She reached back and pushed the seat up latching it. Adorno was driving because she was more familiar with the area.
Gibson checked on her son around 8:30 a.m., and he was fine, according to the statement. She drove to Burger King about 11:30 a.m. with Devin staying in the trunk although the seat was pushed down. The child ate a cheeseburger children’s meal, and they arrived back at Mountain Trace around 12:05 p.m. She told McCoy she pushed the seat back up leaving Devin in the trunk.
Gibson told McCoy that when she checked on her son again about 2:30 p.m., he complained of being hot. She rolled the window down a little and left the back seat partially down.
When she returned to check on Devin between 3-3:30 p.m., she saw him in the trunk through the back seat, and he was not moving, according to her statement. She performed CPR on him, but there was no response. She stayed in the car about 30 minutes before going back inside to tell Adorno what happened.
Adorno then accompanied Gibson outside and told her to take Devin to a local hospital, but Gibson said she was taking him to the morgue at Mission Hospitals in Asheville and then going to the Asheville Police Department, McCoy testified.
“She said she knew it was her fault, but she didn’t intend to hurt him,” McCoy said.
Gibson drove back to her Asheville apartment and told her roommate what had happened, the statement indicates. She stayed in the car and held Devin until police arrived.
Gibson said she had never kept Devin in the trunk before that weekend, and her only reason for doing so was there was tension between her and her roommate, McCoy said.
The detective also testified Gibson said it was so hot in the car when she found Devin that she could barely stand it.
Her statement also indicates Devin wore pull-up diapers while he was in the trunk.
McCoy described the weather as “pretty hot” and the humidity “sticky” on the day Devin died.
The detective also testified about an interview he conducted with Adorno on the night of May 22.
He said she did not see Devin at any point on Saturday or Sunday until she went outside after Gibson told her what had happened. She said at one time on the trip over Sunday she saw Gibson reach back to flip up the back seat.
Adorno told McCoy that Gibson came to a room where she was working between 4-4:30 p.m. and said she had to leave due to a family emergency. Asked what the problem was, Gibson said something was wrong with her son. Adorno thought the child was in Asheville until Gibson told her what had happened.
Adorno went out to the car and saw Devin’s body. Thinking maybe he had had a seizure, she told Gibson to take him to a local hospital.
“She said she had to get out of Sylva and go back to Buncombe County,” McCoy said reading from Adorno’s statement about Gibson’s actions.
Adorno said she then went back inside, called 911 and went to a vacant room and cried.
Under cross examination by defense attorney Randy Seago, McCoy said no one else was in the room when Gibson gave her statement to him. He also said he did not tape the interview, which is the general procedure of the Sheriff’s Office and his personal preference. He added that Gibson did not read or sign his transcript of her statement.
Asked by Seago if the theory that Devin had been in the truck all day Saturday and Sunday came from Adorno, McCoy said “no.” He said Gibson’s statement indicated Devin had been in the trunk the entire time.
In his closing argument, Wijewickrama said it was clear that probable cause exists on the child abuse charges. Devin was left in the car 19 hours Saturday and at least eight hours Sunday, he said.
As for second-degree murder, which requires malice, he cited an N.C. Supreme Court ruling that cruel and reckless actions resulting in death reach the malice requirement for second-degree murder. He claimed Gibson’s actions were cruel and reckless.
Using the same Supreme Court case, Seago countered that the reckless action must be the infliction of a wound or a similar situation, which did not happen in this case.
“There’s no evidence of anything other than a decision made that was desperate,” Seago said. “It doesn’t show the kind of criminal intent required by the State of North Carolina.”
The case could come to trail later this year. Meanwhile, Gibson remains jailed with bond set at $100,000.
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