Money Problems and Divorce Lead to Murder in Amarillo

The date was August 22, 2010, so a whopping twelve years ago when this family's life was turned upside down in Bushland, Texas. We knew about Paul Gillette before then. The talk was about his Falcon Club subdivision that was supposed to happen.

Then it kind of went quiet. Why? His world was crumbling. Things were not going to get better for him. He was dealing with financial issues and to top it off he was going through a divorce. Money problems and relationship issues for him lead to this tragic day.

In his Bushland home, he murdered his wife, Sherri. Their twins, Reagan and Brian were inside the home in bed. They were just a day away from starting their freshman year at Bushland High School. This was going to be their back-to-school memory forever. Not the excitement of the next four years with proms, homecomings, and football games. No, it was going to be the night their dad murdered their mom.

When the police came they found Sherri, in the garage, on the floorboard of her SUV. She was beaten and strangled. The emergency crew did their best to save her but nothing could be done.

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The kids had to endure their high school years without their mom. They would have to endure the trial. Paul, their dad, was convicted of murder and sentenced to forty-five years in prison. Which doesn't seem like enough.

The bright side of all of this is that those twins did not let this stop them. No, they took those four years and made the most of their high school years. They finished their senior year and headed to graduation. Brian was the valedictorian and Reagan was the salutatorian of the class of 2014 at Bushland. They did not let this tragedy define them.

These twins triumphed over the tragedy in their lives and that was such a blessing. It takes a village to raise a child and the village that is Bushland stepped in to make this a reality.