On March 11, 2013, Stephen and Gail Dews were having a Sunday outing near a waterfall in the Poconos when Stephen pushed his wife off a cliff. Dews insisted that she had fallen to her death in a tragic accident.
However, after two years, police officers had finally gathered enough evidence to charge Dews with his wife’s murder.
Dews entered a convenience store the day after he murdered his wife and acted bizarrely. He wandered through the store, not buying anything, and refusing to acknowledge the store owner.
When he finally approached the register, and when the staff asked if he was alright, he responded by saying, “No, I want to call the police. I had an accident; I fell on the ice.”
Stephen Dews told police he and Gail had fallen
When the police arrived, Dews told them he and his wife had been walking the previous day when they slipped on the ice. He said he didn’t know what happened to this wife or where she was. Dews later told them that he had fallen and bumped into his wife; he then said when he came to, she was gone.
Police noticed that Dews’ hands had several scratches, and they were covered with blood. His right cheekbone also had a scratch, and his jeans were wet and covered with mud.
An autopsy on Gail revealed a fractured hyoid bone in the neck, meaning she was possibly strangled. She’d also suffered multiple blunt force trauma to the pelvic region and neck.
Watch the Latest on our YouTube ChannelUnfortunately, officers did not have enough evidence to hold Dews, but they kept digging for clues.
Gail’s family members would later reveal that the Dews had been having marital problems and that Gail had discussed separation. They said Stephen was very jealous and controlling.
Further to the marital strife, Dews was found to have transferred $135,000 from a joint account he had with his wife to his account one month after her death.
In May 2015, Dews was finally arrested and charged with murder.
More from Fatal Vows
Follow the links to read about more murders committed as a result of marital strife.
Earnie and Syble Stokes seemed like a happy Alabama couple, childhood sweethearts who had been married since the 1970s. However, it would later transpire that that Earnie, a retired Baptist preacher, was having an affair with a member of his congregation.
Then one day, Earnie calmly bought some ammunition at his local store and then went home and shot dead his wife of 35-years.
In Pennsylvania in 2009, Miranda Boob solicited the help of her lover, Ronald Heichel, to be the trigger man in the murder of her husband, Samuel Boob. She also enlisted her colleague, Kermit Butts, to act as the getaway driver for Heichel.
Fatal Vows – Betting on Murder airs Monday, April 6, at 8/7c on Investigation Discovery.