Naman Shrestha
The police received a distressing call from Waymon Keith Gentry’s wife, in November 2005, who asked the authorities to come over as Keith had been shot in the head amidst a robbery. Investigation Discovery’s ‘Deadly Women: Sleeping with the Enemy’ gives us a detailed account of the head-scratching murder case, taking us through the gory details, the investigation and trials that followed, and revealing the identity of the culprit.
How Did Waymon Keith Gentry Die?
Born on September 2, 1974, in Waco, McLennan County, Texas, Waymon Keith Gentry was brought into the world by Waymon E. and Glenda Lathern Gentry. He tied the knot with Darlene Doskocil on April 10, 1999, in Robinson, McLennan County, Texas. After the marriage, the couple moved next door to Keith’s parents in Robinson. Soon, in a matter of just a few years, the couple went on to have three sons — Chase, Cody, and Cade.
Keith’s job as an engineer for an electric utility company kept him away from home for most part of the week. But, even after landing a desk job to be able to spend more time at home, their marriage started deteriorating after six years. However, he was determined to make it work one way or another. In the early morning of November 9, 2005, Keith got shot in the head, after which Darlene called 911 for help while her injured husband gurgled in the background, claiming that someone had broken in, taken all his guns, and shot him.
Fortunately, while there was blood all over the bed where he lay, he was still alive when the first responders reached the scene, so they rushed him to the nearest hospital. However, his good fortune soon turned into misfortune as the police soon received word that he was brain dead. Then, the authorities took Darlene to the hospital, where she signed the consent forms to let them take him off of life support, resulting in his inevitable death after that.
Who Killed Waymon Keith Gentry?
After sending the fatally injured Keith to the hospital, the police noticed that there were no signs of forced entry and the glass gun cabinetry was not broken into. Detective Tracy O’Conner, who was in charge of the case, asked Darlene to come to the station in order to give her statement. When her claims did not make any sense to the authorities, they had decided her to be the prime murder suspect in the case after most of the interview was done.
Soon, the police also managed to find a plausible motive for murder — Keith’s two life insurances that added up to approximately $750,000. Now that they had more than enough evidence that pointed toward her, they arrested Darlene on suspicion of murder on November 27, 2005. However, Keith’s parents stood by her and helped her with the bail money worth $50,000, getting her out of jail by the same evening.
Just a few days after Keith’s murder, Darlene reportedly got in touch with an acquaintance named Robert Pavelka regarding the purchase of a new house so that she could start afresh. What’s interesting about it is the fact that the property she was interested in had a pond right next to it. So, when she was out on bond, she insisted on buying the house, and the pond filled in, immediately. This sudden behavior raised suspicions in Pavelka’s mind, and he told the authorities all about it.
Without wasting any time, the police suspected that Darlene had disposed of the murder weapon in the pond. So, they called in a dive team who began searching for the weapon, and just 10-15 minutes later, they pulled out Keith’s missing .22 out of the pond. Then, the authorities strategically placed a video camera facing the pond and instructed Pavelka to let her know that the pond needed to be drained out before filling it back in.
Having marked the spot where they found the gun with a large stick, the police didn’t have to wait much before Darlene was caught on camera sneaking around the pond before going into the water directly to where the gun was recovered from. So, before her trial began, the authorities managed to collect some solid pieces of evidence to use against her.
Darlene Gentry is Behind Bars Today
The trial for Keith’s murder officially began on February 6, 2007. After the video footage of Darlene going to look for the murder weapon was played, the jury took about five hours to vote for a guilty verdict against her. The next day, Darlene was sentenced to 60 years of imprisonment. After her conviction, Keith’s parents won custody of Darlene and his three sons. In 2010, she received a court order that prohibited her from having any sort of contact with her children.
The convict appealed for a new trial in November 2017 but the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied her request and kept her conviction maintained. As of now, she is serving her sentence in Dr. Lane Murray Unit at 1916 N, TX-36 BUS in Gatesville, and still maintains her innocence regarding Keith’s murder case. While she will be eligible for parole in February 2037, her maximum sentence date is until February 2067.
