Toccoa woman to serve 15 years in prison for 1975 murder

VINCENNES, IND - A Toccoa, Georgia woman who walked into a police station two years ago and confessed to a 1975 murder was sentenced Friday to 15 years is prison. <br> <br> Ella Mae Dicks, 48, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder last month during the trial of her ex-husband, Wayne Gulley, who was convicted in the slaying of 23-year-old Sherry Lee Gibson. She was the key prosecution witness in the case. <br> <br> Neither Dicks nor Gulley had been suspects in the murder until she told police in 2001 about her role in the crime. A teenager had confessed to the murder in the 1970s and later died in prison. Investigators now believe he lied about his involvement to attract attention. <br> <br> During Gulley&#39;s trial, Dicks testified that she and Gulley, after a night of drinking and doing drugs, went for a drive in Knox County and came across Gibson and her date, Lindy Alton, parked in a rural area. <br> <br> She said they abducted Gibson and locked Alton in the trunk of his car. <br> <br> Dicks recalled being at a house and seeing Gulley stab Gibson several times. She said Gulley then handed her a knife and made her stab Gibson. <br> <br> Gibson&#39;s body was found the followed morning in a burned-out, abandoned farmhouse in southern Indiana. <br> <br> Gulley&#39;s attorney, Jessie Cook, said there were discrepancies in Dicks&#39; testimony and that Dicks had a history of mental illness and substance abuse that cast doubt on her statements. She said Dicks was a vengeful ex-wife who resented Gulley after their marriage ended. <br> <br> A second-degree murder charge is no longer in use in Indiana but was at the time of the crime, when it carried a sentence of 15 years to life in prison. <br> <br> Gulley, 61, of Peoria, Ill., is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 17.