Two relatives of a murdered 81-year-old widow have been arrested and charged nearly 30 years later, accused of killing her over a $40,000 inheritance.
Gerthie Carolina was savagely beaten, stabbed and left to die on the kitchen floor of her home in the tiny rural Oklahoma town of Sasakwa in August 1997, just four months after completing her will.
The case went cold until it was reopened in 2023 — and cops found some of Carolina’s blood on a shoe that was taken as evidence on the day of the crime 28 years ago, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) said.
The shoe belonged to the dead woman’s then-17-year-old grandniece, Dakota Davis, who was arrested this month along with another relative, Carolina’s niece, Carolyn Foreman.
Davis, now 45, and Foreman, now 81 and suffering from dementia, were both charged Friday with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder — having cashed out $40,000 from a trust just days after Carolina’s murder.
Just four months before she was killed, Carolina — who had no children — named Foreman as the beneficiary of a $40,000 certificate of deposit she’d put into a living trust.
“Carolina left her estate to Foreman, who would then be responsible for dividing the estate up among the family,” the OSBI reported in court affidavits.
But authorities now allege that Foreman and Davis brutally murdered her because they were too impatient to wait for her to die to get the payout, according to officials.
Foreman and Davis, who were 53 and 17 at the time, had claimed to have found Carolina dead around 3:15 a.m. when they arrived to take her to a doctor’s appointment because she’d not been feeling well.
But an autopsy revealed she died from several stab wounds and blunt force trauma, cops said.
In the 28 years since, Davis allegedly admitted to killing Carolina multiple times, according to affidavits — which said she’d told people she’d used either an ax or a machete.
Davis’ father also told investigators that in 2001 she revealed to him that she “chopped up” her great aunt while Foreman egged her on to “hit her again, hit her again,” court documents said.
Carolina had also angrily confronted Foreman, accusing her of stealing money from her bank account, the dad said.
Foreman was arrested in Midwest City, Oklahoma and Davis was taken into custody in Sacramento, California.
Foreman was previously charged with first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of a 16-year-old in 1999 — however the charge was later dismissed, according to The Oklahoman.
Her son was later convicted of that murder in 2007 and is serving life in prison.
Foreman has been married for 51 years and suffers from dementia, according to her bond petition.
“This case is a testament to the relentless dedication of these investigators and our unwavering pursuit of justice, even decades after a crime is committed,” Seminole County District Attorney Erik Johnson said in a statement.
“We hope this brings some measure of peace to Gerthie Carolina’s family after all these years.”
