Naman Shrestha
In the last week of January 2022, Alexis Gabe suddenly disappeared without a trace. As the authorities looked for her, they suspected something far worse had happened to her. When her partial remains surfaced months after her disappearance, Alexis’ family members and friends’ worst nightmare had turned into reality. The entire case is explored in Investigation Discovery’s ‘On the Case With Paula Zahn: Where is Alexis?,’ which covers the intricate details of the disappearance-turned-murder case as well as exclusive interviews with the victim’s loved ones and experts who were directly and indirectly involved in the case.
Alexis Gabe Went Missing Before Her Remains Began Surfacing
Brought into the world by Gwyn and Rowena Gabe on March 17, 1998, Alexis Perry Gabe grew up to be a kind and compassionate woman who touched many lives around her. She even became a young mother and gave birth to her son, Gwyn Austin. With so much to look forward to in her life, be it on the personal or professional front, her ambitions came to an abrupt halt when she went missing on the evening of January 26, 2022. While she was reported to be last seen around Benttree Way in Antioch, her light blue Infiniti, with the keys still in the ignition, was discovered the next day, 4.5 miles away on Trenton Street in Oakley. Unfortunately, there was no sign of Alexis in or around the car.
The authorities, along with Alexis’ loved ones, launched a thorough search for the 23-year-old woman in and around the area where she was last seen. When they couldn’t find any concrete leads, the police announced a $10,000 reward for anyone who could provide them with significant information regarding Alexis’ whereabouts. Drawing national attention, Alexis’ disappearance case also had assistance from the KlaasKids Foundation, as an extensive search was launched in the East Bay and the Sierra Foothills.
By June, the detectives declared that the evidence they had collected by that time indicated that Alexis was killed in January 2022, turning the disappearance case into a homicidal one. The indications soon turned into confirmations as they received an anonymous tip in November 2022 about the remains of a human near Plymouth in Amador County. The remains were confirmed to be of Alexis Gabe, as the police also found black plastic bags and duct tape at the site. A couple of months later, partial remains of Alexis were also discovered near Amador City in January 2023.
A Former Lover of Alexis Gabe Killed and Dismembered Her Body
After months and months of incessant search for any signs of Alexis Gabe resulted in almost nothing but evidence that indicated foul play, the police revealed that they thought Alexis was murdered in January 2022 by none other than her ex-boyfriend Marshall Curtis Jones at his home in Antioch. They came to this conclusion as they had learned that she vanished into thin air after she visited Marshall at the house where he lived with his stepfather. Moreover, the forensic, electronic, and DNA evidence that they collected from the crime scene indicated that her former lover was the guilty one.
Alexis’ family also believed that Marshall received some help from his mother, Alicia Coleman Clark, as the surveillance footage showed that Marshall disposed of multiple large and heavy garbage bags at his mother’s home just a couple of days after Alexis went missing. The two were seen exiting the house to purchase a new phone, but Marshall returned to retrieve the garbage bags later while she was busy hosting a karaoke party. Still, this was not enough to charge Alicia with the disappearance and murder of the Oakley woman. Gwyn Gabe, Alexis’ father, even made a Facebook page called Justice for Alexis Gabe to raise awareness about the case in the online community.
Marshall Curtis Jones Was Killed When He Attacked the Police Officers With a Knife
When the detectives’ suspicion had evidential support against Marshall Curtis Jones, they went to the suspect’s Washington apartment in June 2022 to arrest him and take him into custody. However, when they reached there and identified themselves, he came rushing out with a knife and attempted to attack them. In self-defense, the officers reportedly shot him to death. Later, they learned that he had been staying in the apartment with an associate.
When Alexis Gabe was dating Marshall Curtis Jones, the Gabe family considered him part of their family. But when she disappeared, they claimed they had suspicions about him but did not talk about it publicly as they did not intend to spook him and complicate things for the investigators. Gwyn Gabe told NBC Bay Area, “Alexis’s friends told us that Alexis told them that he threatened to kill himself if she didn’t get back with him, and he also threatened to kill Alexis if she didn’t get back with him. Those were things that she told her best friends.”
The parents of Alexis were highly disappointed to hear the news of their daughter’s alleged killer, as the authorities had not discovered her remains. Gwyn Gabe expressed his disappointment at the press conference: “We wanted to meet with him face-to-face, look him in the eye and ask him, ‘Why? Why would you do this, and where is our daughter?'” He also added that they would not rest until finding their beloved daughter’s remains. Her mother, Rowena Gabe, addressed Marshall’s accomplice and stated, “If you have a conscience, please speak up. Tell us where my daughter is, what happened to her, please. I want her back. That’s all we want.”
