Tragedy can strike anyone at any time. We talk about it all the time on our podcast, murder happens everywhere. But when tragedy strikes the same person more than once, is that reason to be suspicious? Can a tragedy as horrific as having your husband murdered happen not just once but twice to the same woman? That is sometimes referred to as a black widow. Was Anne a black widow? You decide.
Anne Gibson was born May 29th, 1949, in Louisville, Indiana. She was an only child, and a childhood friend of hers, Tim Conway, says she was spoiled. Anne went to nursing school after high school and became a well accomplished nurse. She met David Plue in 1977, and the two fell madly in love. David worked for the Chrysler Corp. and was a member of the Lewisville Fire Department. He was also a Vietnam Veteran. The two, twenty-eight and twenty-nine-years-old, were a picture perfect young American couple.
On the night of May 28th, 1978, a passing motorist called the authorities to report a car in the intersection of two rural roads and a person lying on the road. The first responders originally believed that there had been a single vehicle accident, and the driver had been thrown from the vehicle. However, upon investigation, they found that the body was that of young man who was shot once in the forehead and once behind the ear. There was no identification on the man, so it took some time to identify him through vehicle ownership records and then personal identification. Finally, Ann Plue was notified that her husband, David Plue, had been murdered.
There were very few leads in the murder case which quickly grew cold. It appeared that David was going to meet someone on the backroad, but no one knew who. David was not involved in nefarious activities, did not drink or do drugs, and had no enemies. Ann was hospitalized at the time of his death, providing her with a rock-solid alibi. The murder weapon was never found but was described as a .38 caliber weapon. There appeared to be no motive for the crime, but some law enforcement officers were suspicious of Anne despite her being hospitalized at the time of the murder. Something about Anne just didn’t sit right, but clearly she was not the person who shot David twice execution style.
Anne, seemingly devastated by her loss, told her dear friend Tim Conway that she just needed to move away and start over. She moved, taking her parents with her, down to Mississippi, just outside and across the state line from New Orleans. She began a very successful career as a nurse. She also began socializing once again. She soon met another man who was also grieving the loss of a spouse, Raymond Gates.
Raymond Gates was born in 1922 in Nebraska. After serving in World War II and being stationed in New Orleans, he decided to settle there. He worked as an accountant for Tidewater, Inc., which grew into an international business during his time there. In 1960, Raymond married the love of his life and was ready to build a family. Unfortunately, tragedy struck eleven months later when she tragically died of a brain aneurysm. Raymond found the woman he described as the love of his life and never quite recovered, spending most of his life as a bachelor after losing his wife.
Despite a twenty-six-year age difference, and the fact that David died in May of 1978, Anne married Raymond Gates in December of 1978. In the early 1980s, Raymond built the couple a home in Arabi, Louisianna. The couple were financially comfortable and enjoyed hosting parties at their home and enjoying visitors. Their visitors often included Anne’s long-time friend Tim Conwell. Tim states he was a very good friend of David as well.
On October 7th, 1987, 911 received a frantic phone call from Anne Gates. When the first responders arrived at the home she shared with Raymond in Arabi, Louisianna, they found Raymond lying on the living room floor dead. The television was blaring when detectives arrived, and Anne was present with another adult male. She informed police that the male was her boyfriend, an arrangement she said her husband was aware and accepting of. The detectives found her upfront disclosure odd to say the least.
Raymond was lying on the floor with several blunt force trauma injuries to his face and head. The crime scene was extremely bloody. The wounds were indicative of something long and thin, consistent with a fireplace poker that just happened to be missing from the fireplace tools in the living room. There were no signs of forced entry to the home. It was also clear that the body had been there for a few days. A TV guide was open and had blood on it. It was open to the date of October 3rd, 1987.
Anne explained to the detectives that she had not been home for several days. She explained that she and Raymond did not have a traditional marriage and often lived apart. She stated that she lived with her parents for several days and then would return home to Raymond for a few days. She also stated that both she and Raymond had outside relationships that both were aware of and accepting of. On October 7th, she said she was returning to collect her mail when she found her husband dead. She told the detectives that the last time she had been home was September 30th.
Detectives were immediately suspicious of Raymond’s widow. The non-traditional presentation of the marriage was certainly to note, but this became even more suspicious when family members of Raymond denied that he was aware of Anne’s affairs or participated in his own extramarital affairs. Raymond was aware of Anne staying several days at a time with her elderly parents, but he certainly wasn’t aware of any affairs according to his friends and family. A family member of Raymond’s also brought Anne’s first marriage to the attention of detectives.
When the detectives learned that Anne had previously been married, but was a widow when her husband was murdered, their interest was certainly sparked. They learned that when David Plue died, Anne collected his $100,000 life insurance policy. She used that money to move her and her parents from Indiana to the New Orleans area. This certainly drew suspicion. Was it possible for lightning to strike twice?
Detectives in Indiana were informed of the death of Raymond Gates, sparking them to take another look at the case of David Plue. In both cases, Anne claimed neither husband had any enemies or reason that anyone would want to kill them. Neither was involved in dangerous activities. Raymond was sixty-five-years-old while David was just twenty-eight. In both cases, Anne was the wife of the victim and stood to inherit a sum of money. The only person who had a motive seemed to be the connection between the two- Anne.
The man that was with Anne on October 7th when Raymond’s body was discovered was interviewed. He said that on October 3rd, the day that Raymond was believed to be killed, he was working. He backed up Anne’s claim that Anne was aware of their relationship. After continuing the investigation, the police were able to eliminate him as a suspect. Anne, also claiming to be at work, was not so easily eliminated as a suspect.
The detectives were further suspicious to learn that Anne was not present during the funeral planning for Raymond’s funeral. Raymond’s family continued to plan his final arrangement and grieve without his wife. Meanwhile, detectives talked to members of the community including the post office employees. The post man stated that he was completely sure that he saw Anne’s vehicle at the house she shared with Raymond on October 3rd, 1987, the day he was murdered. Detectives could now put Anne at the scene of the crime on the day of the murder.
On December 9th, 1987, nearly two months after the murder of Raymond Gates, Anne Gates was arrested and charged with the murder of her sixty-five-year-old husband. At the time, Anne was thirty-eight years old. Raymond Gates’ family was not surprised at this point, considering Anne was not behaving in the way you would expect a grieving widow to behave. The motive was believed to be Raymond’s $82,000 life insurance policy.
While awaiting trial for Raymond’s murder, authorities in Indiana took another look at the decade’s old case of David Plue. They had always been suspicious of Anne but had not been able to prove anything. After all, Anne was hospitalized when David was killed. The detectives found a news article for a year prior to the murder of David Plue when Tim Conwell reported a .38 caliber weapon stolen, the same caliber weapon David Plue was killed with. The weapon was never found, so it could never be conclusively linked to Tim. Detectives also learned that Anne convinced her husband to change his life insurance beneficiary from his mother to her shortly before he was murdered. Tim Conwell and Anne Gates became prime suspects in the murder of David Plue.
Just days following her arrest, on December 14th, 1987, Anne Gates was freed from St. Bernard Parish Jail on $40,000 bond. While many were outraged and horrified by the bond reduction and Gates being allowed parole despite being dubbed “the black widow”, the court system claimed that jail overcrowding was the reason for the reduction. The judge said that eight women were occupying the jail’s only cell for women.
Anne spent some time awaiting trial but soon decided to talk to detectives. She changed her story again and her plea by 1989. In 1989 she pleaded no contest to manslaughter in exchange for a ten-year sentence in prison. She agreed to testify against her long-time friend, Tim Conwell. She said that on October 3rd, she picked Tim up from the airport in New Orleans. She said the two went to the house she shared with Raymond.
According to Anne, Raymond and Tim watched football and ate pizza. She said that she took a shower, but when she finished showering, she found Tim beating Raymond with the fireplace poker and Raymond begging for help. Anne admitted to assisting Tim with disposal of evidence, including the murder weapon and dropping him back off at the airport. She said she then dropped him back off at the airport. She claimed Tim threatened her several times if she told anyone.
Tim was requested to attend court in New Orleans for the case against Anne, at which time he was arrested for second degree murder. He had several weapons and ammunition on him at the time of his arrest. When he heard the allegations against him, Tim showed no emotion and made no statements. Anne led the authorities to believe that she was afraid of Tim Conwell.
The authorities offered Tim a deal in which he would be required to plead guilty to accessory after the fact, but Tim rejected the deal and opted to go to trial. Anne testified against Tim Conwell as the star witness for the prosecution. Tim chose not to testify. The case was dependent upon the word of a known felon currently in prison. When the case went to jury, they were unable to reach a verdict. Ending in a mistrial, the prosecution chose not to retry Tim Conwell until they could get new evidence against him. He went back to Indiana to go on with his life. He says that Anne was a pathological liar.
Meanwhile, Anne filed a petition from prison demanding her share of her late husband’s estate. This would be the same husband she was in prison for participating in his murder. She pleaded no contest to manslaughter in this case. Her defense to the civil court is that this conviction does not preclude her from eligibility of benefits under Louisianna law. Unbelievably, in 1992, the courts agreed, and she was given 40% of his estate, or $25,000. Anne is believed to have killed two husbands and profited from both of their deaths.
In the mid-1990s, Anne was paroled from prison. Unable to work as a nurse following her conviction, she eventually returned to her roots. Eventually, Anne reunited with Tim Conwell and the two rekindled an old romance. The two married and lived happily together for nineteen years. Anne passed away in 2016. Tim says that he and Anne were very happily married and that she was a good wife to him when they were married despite her attempting to frame him for murder years earlier. Many believe that the two were partners in crime not once, but twice.
The records for the murder of Raymond Gates were destroyed during Hurricane Katrina, preventing any further investigation or prosecution of further suspects.
No one has ever been prosecuted in the murder of David Plue.
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