Viswa Vanapalli
One night in February 1987, Roxanne Wood and her husband, Terry Wood, left home to spend some time with friends. But hours later, the former made a horrific discovery, setting off a murder investigation that ended more than three decades later. CBS News’ ‘48 Hours: The ‘Unsolvable’ Murder of Roxanne Wood’ chronicles Roxanne’s murder and how the authorities considered her husband to be a person of interest until DNA evidence proved he wasn’t involved.
Who is Terry Wood?
Terry Wood and Roxanne were married and lived in Niles, Michigan, at the time of the incident. On February 19, 1987, the couple drove in separate cars to have dinner at a restaurant before heading to a local bowling alley. He was actually in a bowling league back then. Therefore, while he stayed for longer, his 30-year-old wife returned sometime after midnight, primarily because she had work the following morning. But when Terry came home about 45 minutes later, he discovered her in the kitchen, in a pool of blood.
Roxanne had been beaten in the head with a frying pan, her throat was slit, and she’d been sexually assaulted. Terry thus called 911 at around 1:18 AM on February 20, 1987, and said, “My wife has been murdered. She is dead. She has been cut.” Officials immediately suspected Terry because he seemed aggressive with the first responders. Furthermore, while he was being interviewed, the family hired an attorney to stop the questioning right away.
According to the authorities, Terry never contacted the police after that, and he remained the prime suspect in the case. Janet Wood, Roxanne’s sister, has since revealed that one of the investigators even said to Terry, “I believe you’re the killer, and I will not rest until you’re behind bars.” A significant reason for the same was the fact there was infidelity in Terry and Roxanne’s marriage (from both sides), giving rise to the question of jealousy as a possible motive. However, the police didn’t have any evidence that tied him to the murder. In 1999, the DNA found at the scene was compared to Terry’s but didn’t match his profile or anyone else on CODIS, the national criminal DNA database.
Terry said in 2013, “I didn’t murder Roxanne. And here it is 25 years later, and the state police are not doing their job. At that point, none of this is on the record, and that is it.” While he was happy about the case being in the limelight, he chose to keep a low profile and hoped that an arrest would be made soon. Yet, it wasn’t until February 2022 that the killer was taken into custody. Patrick Gilham, identified by investigators thanks to the genetic genealogy work done by Gabriella Vargas, was the man who murdered Roxanne. His DNA matched the one found at the scene.
Terry Wood is Doing Better in Life Today
Once Patrick was arrested, the cloud of suspicion that Terry had to live under for many years was lifted. Ultimately, he was consulted before Patrick was given a plea deal that sent him to prison for a minimum of 23 years. Since the incident, Terry has done his best to move on. He has a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration/Economics from Western Michigan University and continues to live in Niles, his hometown. Apart from that, Terry worked as a sales manager for a steel tank company for more than four decades and enjoys fishing. It appears that Terry struggled in the time leading up to Patrick’s legal proceedings but is doing much better now. Unfortunately, though, he recently lost a pet dog.
Read More: Where is Genealogist Gabriella Vargas Now?
