Sins & Survivors: A Las Vegas True Crime Podcast - A Community in Mourning - The Murder of Dr. Gwen Amsrala

Episode Date: January 16, 2024

Dr. Gwen Amsrala was a brilliant young doctor with a bright future, until her husband, Shiva Gummi, violently ended her life. Shaun & John discuss Gwen’s life, her tragic murder, and the red flags of controlling relationships that can escalate into violence.We also discuss Jake Freeman, a Las Vegas police officer who terrorized his ex-wife through relentless stalking, leading to a tragic conclusion on New Year’s Eve that shocked the Las Vegas Valley community. https://sinspod.co/episode11sources Domestic Violence Resourceshttp://sinspod.co/resourcesClick here to become a member of our Patreon!https://sinspod.co/patreonVisit and join our Patreon now and access our ad-free episodes and exclusive bonus content & schwag! Get ad-free access for only $1 a month or ad-free and bonus episodes for $3 a monthApple Podcast Subscriptionshttps://sinspod.co/appleWe're now offering premium membership benefits on Apple Podcast Subscriptions! On your mobile deviceLet us know what you think about the episodehttps://www.buzzsprout.com/twilio/text_messages/2248640/open_sms Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/sins-survivors-a-las-vegas-true-crime-podcast--6173686/support.

Hey! Movie startin', kiddo! Streaming service, $20. But mom! Popcorn! Grocery bill, $120. And, can we keep the light on? Sure. Sorry, your account has insufficient funds. When you're in debt, everything looks different.

Even movie night. At Farber Debt Solutions, we can help you reduce your debt by up to 80% and save you money. Farber Debt Solutions. Lic insolvency trustees. Get the truth about debt. To listen ad-free, visit Zinspod.co slash subscribe. Starting at $2.99 a month, you'll also get access to our exclusive bonus content episodes when you join through Patreon or Apple subscriptions. Thanks for supporting the show. Dr. Gwen Amisrala was a brilliant young doctor doing her residency in the UNLV Medical School's Internal Medicine Program. In a horrifying

turn of events, her husband, whom she'd been with for nearly half her life, Shiva Gumi, cut short her brilliant career, ending her life in a violent fit of rage, jealousy, and probably more than a little bit of insecurity. We will also be talking about Jake Freeman, a Las Vegas metropolitan police officer who terrorized his wife for several months after their divorce was finalized. He stalked her online and in person incessantly until finally he was arrested on New Year's Eve 2023. The conclusion of his story shocked the Las Vegas Valley community. Hi and welcome to Sins and Survivors, a Las Vegas true crime podcast where we focus on cases that deal with domestic violence. I'm your host, Sean, and with me as, is the one and only John. I am the only John in the room.

This case today is a little unusual compared to the other cases we've discussed on Sins and Survivors so far this season. In other episodes, there have been some warning signs or quotes from family and friends, or even the victims themselves that paint a clear picture of the violence or toxicity in their relationships. But for Dr. Gwen Amsrala, we don't seem to have all of those details, at least not yet. Do you want to start us off? Sure. This week, as you said, we'll be talking about a bright and successful 2022 MD graduate of the Kirk Corian School of Medicine at UNLV named Gwendolyn or Gwen Amsrala. We'll also be talking about the distinction that you'll sometimes see about whether or not someone is a domestic abuser. As you might expect, a person doesn't need to

have been determined to be a domestic abuser in a court of law to be a domestic abuser. Those two things aren't even really related. We'll also touch on the idea of red flags in relationships and which patterns of behavior constitute controlling behavior and which ones can easily progress into abusive behavior. As I mentioned, as of now, we don't have a lot of information on the specifics of Gwen's marriage to Shiva Gumi or sense of how often these issues may have come up in their relationship or what red flags there may have been. But there are a few we can certainly identify. But before we get to all of that, let's talk about Gwen.

Gwen Amsrala, who is known as Nikki to her family, was born in 1994 in Hyderabad, India, and was the only child of Nancy Palati and Kiran David Amsrawa. Her cousin Peter has shared that when she was born, a nurse told her mother Nancy that Gwen looked like a laddu. A laddu is a very popular and tasty little round Indian sweet treat. As a child, she attended a Catholic school that was run by her parents, and she started kindergarten quite early at the age of three. Typically, you expect kids to start kindergarten around five or maybe four if they're advanced. Gwen and her parents immigrated to the United States,

specifically to Reno, Nevada, when Gwen was 13 years old, so around seventh or eighth grade. But according to her mom, Gwen adjusted quickly to life in America, and it seemed like Gwen felt like she always belonged here in the United States. She graduated from McQueen High School, which is on the west side of Reno, in 2011. And after high school, she briefly returned to India to study computers, but came back to the United States in 2013. Gwen's dream was from a very young age to become a doctor. And she started making that dream a reality by attending the University of Nevada, Reno. Her eventual goal was to work with terminally ill patients. She graduated in 2017 from UNR with

a degree in neuroscience, and she was accepted to the UNLV Kirk Corian School of Medicine and graduated with her MD in 2022. She was justifiably extremely proud of her accomplishment in getting her MD degree. For her residency, as luck would have it, she ended up matching a program at UNLV, the internal medicine internship, and she began that internship shortly after. At that same time, unfortunately, Gwen's mother's health was deteriorating, so Gwen took on the responsibility of caring for her ailing mother. Gwen and Shiva had been together since she was 15 and he was 19, so Gwen would have been in high school when they started dating. Some of the things we found out in reading about Gwen are that she had a great and maybe a

little sarcastic sense of humor, which I can appreciate, that she enjoyed dancing, she enjoyed playing the guitar, although never in public, just in private, enjoyed swimming, and she was seemingly universally loved and admired by those around her. She was a selfless person who always had a stack of bills on hand ready to give out to any homeless person she came across. That's just the type of person she was. Her devastated co-workers all talked about how amazing she was and what a pleasure it was to work with her. One of her co-residents said, quote, I think anyone that has worked with her, whenever

you had a shift with her, you knew it was going to be a great shift because she was a very, very competent provider and you knew she had your back when she was alongside you, unquote. She also had a chocolate lab named Aria, who was described as being the love of her life. As for her husband Shiva, we know some things, but not that much. He graduated from the College of Southern Nevada in 2021 with a degree in aviation technology, intending to become a professional pilot, and eventually worked as a flight instructor at the North Las Vegas-based West Air Flight Training. Gumi seemed to be on a pretty good track with gainful employment. In early to mid-2022, you may remember that it was

becoming obvious there was a huge looming pilot shortage. So competent and skillful pilots could very much write their own tickets in the aviation industry. In May of 2022, Gumi was interviewed by our local Fox affiliate here in Las Vegas, Fox 5, about the pilot shortage as an expert since he was an instructor. And it's hard to believe that 11 months later, he would be calling 911 explaining how he had just killed his wife. And of course, all suspects are considered innocent until they're proven guilty in a court of law. But just like with some of the other cases we've covered, it's really difficult to think of Shiva as being innocent given that he was found on a mattress with his wife with a murder weapon in his hands.

Sometime in mid-2022, Dr. Gwen Amsrala's mother, Nancy, moved in with the couple. She moved from Reno because she has a terminal illness and is partially deaf, and Dr. Amsrala became her caretaker. Now, according to Nancy, she never witnessed any violence between the couple, and they never argued in front of her. On April 13, 2023, Gwen celebrated the end of her first year of residency with her work colleagues. According to testimony Nancy gave during the preliminary hearing, Gwen ended up spending the night at a friend's house because the friend had been drinking, and Gwen said she was worried about that friend. Nancy said the next morning, Shiva asked Gwen about her spending the night at this friend's house. Nancy told

police that she was there when Shiva was asking Gwen about the incident, and that she herself was also asking what had happened. According to Nancy, Shiva was, quote, upset with Gwendolyn, unquote, for staying at this friend's house. We don't have any details at this time as to what Gwen and Shiva did during the day on April 14th, 2023. It was a Friday, so presumably Shiva and Gwen both went to work as normal. According to Nancy, Gwen returned home the night of April 14th around 9 p.m., after she had dinner with some of her co-workers. And Nancy also said that Shiva was out with friends as well that night and got home around 11 p.m. After they got home, they went to bed. The next morning was obviously Saturday, April 15th, and Nancy woke up and found it odd that Gwen hadn't come into her room before she left for work.

Based on her statements, we get the strong impression that Nancy spent most of the early morning in her bedroom and didn't notice something odd going on in the house. She had just assumed that Gwen had gone to work as normal. Around 8.15 in the morning, Shiva makes a call to 911. He tells the operator that about five hours ago, so around 3 a.m., he stabbed himself in multiple places all over his body intentionally. He states that he had locked himself inside the main bedroom of the house. He made the very chilling statement, quote, I want to die, but I'm not dying, unquote. The 911 operator then asked where Shiva's wife was, and he said,

next to me. And the operator asked if the wife could help him with his wounds, help him stop the bleeding, and he said, she's dead. The police arrived at the house, and Nancy let them in, still somehow having no idea why the police were there or who had called them. The police broke down the door to the main bedroom in the house and they found Gwen and Shiva lying on a mattress on the floor. Gwen was covered in blankets with multiple injuries to her arms, abdomen, and throat. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Shiva was taken to the hospital in critical condition. His injuries, according to the police, all appeared to be self-inflicted. He had injuries

to his throat, left side, abdomen, left inner thigh, and right arm. The police collected a knife from beside the mattress that had a bent blade. According to police, the knife matched a set of kitchen knives from a knife block in the kitchen, one of which was missing. According to court records, other evidence the prosecution has collected includes Shiva's cell phone and the audio, video, and photos on that phone. And we'll have to wait until the trial to learn more about what they found on there. Shiva underwent surgery at the hospital and was arrested and booked in absentia on one count of murder. He was held without bail. Shiva appeared in court several days later in a wheelchair and handcuffs with a large scar on his neck. Shiva has pleaded not guilty to the charge.

I have no idea what his defense might be or where his case will go. I did read that the police noted Shiva was suicidal, which is evident due to the circumstances of the crime, right? He was trying to kill himself. But without context, I'm not sure if Shiva had been feeling suicidal for some time leading up to the crime. Reminder, the national number for help with suicide or mental health crisis is 988. According to the court records, the state declined to seek the death penalty for Shiva. Also, Shiva agreed to participate in two settlement conferences held, but the case is scheduled to proceed to trial. This indicates to me that there wasn't a deal on the table that Shiva was willing to accept. The trial is set to begin on April 15, 2024, which will be exactly one year from the date of Dr. Gwen Amsralo's murder.

Media and cameras have been approved to be in the courtroom for the trial. So when that begins in a few months, we'll be able to provide very detailed updates. Shiva is currently being held at the Clark County Detention Center awaiting trial. As a result of his own actions, Shiva suffered multiple serious injuries, and according to his attorney, he will require extensive rehabilitation. Gwen's funeral was held on April 27, 2023, at a church here in Las Vegas. Peter Francis, Gwen's cousin, gave a beautiful eulogy, sharing what we already know to be true, that, quote, her absence leaves us with a profound void in our lives, unquote. That whole funeral service is available on YouTube. We'll be sure to share that in the show notes. Her colleagues at the

UNLV Medical School and in her residency also held a memorial for her and made this public statement. Our residency was shocked to learn of the passing of our beloved intern, Dr. Gwendolyn Amsrala. Gwen was a graduate of the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV and rotated with our program as a medical student and stayed on as a resident. She was taken tragically and suddenly from us, and the world has lost an amazing physician who would have changed the lives of countless patients. Our program misses her infectious smile A faculty member at UNLV assisted the family in setting up the GoFundMe to help with expenses and wrote, she was taken tragically and suddenly from us before she was destined to fulfill a rich and meaningful career dedicated to serving her future

patients. For those who knew her intimately, we will always remember her wonderful sense of humor, the strength of her spirit, leadership, and charming smile. The UNLV Medical School also started a memorial scholarship in her name. And while the GoFundMe is now closed, you can still contribute to the scholarship program. And I'll make sure that link is also in the show notes. Here's a quote from one of her colleagues. No matter what was going on throughout the day, you could always count on her to crack a joke here and there. And her colleague, Dr. Tamara Flores, has said, Gwen was a fierce advocate for all of us, which is why I, for one, would like to see justice served to the person who stole her from us in this very tragic, violent, and criminal way.

A private memorial was also held for Gwen in her hometown of Reno. One week after Gwen was killed, Tabitha Tozzi was also shot and killed. On April 22, 2023, we discussed Tabitha's case in episode four. The two had very different careers, of course, but they were both essentially the same age. Tabitha was only two years younger than Gwen, and both of them were dog moms. And the motive or inciting incident leading to their murders was very much the same. Their partner was upset after they had spent a night out. And I think Gwen's murder highlights even further that domestic violence isn't bound by profession, education level, or household income.

Batterers and victims come from all walks of life. These stories are horrible and tragic. And one of the things it made me want to talk about is some of the red flags for domestic violence. We don't have a record of the police ever being called to Shiva and Gwen's home or reports from her neighbors of loud arguments, but it feels likely that there was a pattern of abusive behavior here that led up to Gwen's murder. In a given relationship, the fact that the police have never been called and a court has never officially labeled someone a domestic abuser doesn't mean that the person is not exhibiting these behaviors. Abusive behavior often starts with much more subtle patterns of controlling behavior and then escalates. Controlling behaviors include things like tech abuse,

like tracking or demanding that a partner allow access to photos and text messages, which we touched a little bit on in our last Tech Corner episode. Jealousy, of course, especially extreme jealousy, which is sometimes called morbid jealousy, which can easily become problematic and abusive very, very quickly. Some examples of jealous behavior, which I'm sure we've all witnessed in our lives, are things like when your partner accuses you of having affairs or making accusations based on how you're dressed, putting expectations on you when you go out, things like having to text immediately back or send photos to prove who you're with or forbidding you to be with certain friends of the opposite sex. Other behavior to look out for is things like being interrogated when you spend a night out with your friends. One terrifying thing about that level of jealousy is that it can be a key indicator of a relationship ending in murder. According to a 2017 research study on the murder and attempted murders of

women by their partners, 79% of the time, extreme jealousy was present in that relationship. The kind of jealousy where your boyfriend is saying, if I can't have you, then no one can. So we cannot express enough what a red flag that type of behavior is. This is a perfect segue to us noting that January is Stalking Awareness Month. Stalking is a form of abusive behavior that can and often does escalate to violence. Like domestic violence, stalking is a crime of power and control. It is a pattern of behaviors which, on their own, might seem innocuous, but taken together in a pattern can lead to anxiety, fear, and can escalate to violence. Some examples of stalking behavior are things like repeated calls, including calls with hang-ups, following and or showing up where someone is, the sending of unwanted gifts, letters, texts, emails, damage to property, monitoring of phone calls or computer use, use of technology to track location, like we talked about in one of our previous Tech Corner episodes, doing drive-bys, verbal

threats of violence or even violence to themselves, and using other people to communicate with you, like children or siblings, stuff like that. If you are being stalked, it's not your fault. But you should take steps to preserve your safety, like telling people what's going on. For example, maybe the HR department at your work or your neighbors or the parents of your kids' friends so they don't give out information to your stalker unknowingly, like where you are or maybe what your new phone number is. Stuff like that happens. Also, do what you can to preserve texts and emails.

Proceed from your stalker or write down incidents in case you ever want to get an order of protection. Take your stalker's threats seriously. And be aware that your stalker might use threats of suicide to get you to continue to stay in contact with them. You know yourself best, so do not hesitate to call 911 if you have to. For support, you can call your local domestic violence hotline or the national hotline to talk with an advocate who can help you with safety planning and filing a protection order. We will provide all of those resources in our show notes. Before we bring up this next case, I want to mention that it also encompasses domestic violence, stalking, and suicide. So we'll just take a moment to include a trigger warning for all of those topics. This story occurred New Year's weekend, 2024, just a couple weeks ago.

Six-year veteran of the Las Vegas Metro Police Force, domestic abuser and stalker Jake Freeman was arrested after stalking and terrorizing his wife. We don't know much about the victim, Freeman's wife, which is probably for the best. The couple did not have any children, however, which again is most assuredly for the best in this case. 31 years old, born in 1992, and he joined Metro in 2017 and was a member of the community policing division in the Summerlin Area Command. Summerlin, for those of you who aren't from Las Vegas, is a planned community on the west side of the Las Vegas Valley. There are some pretty swanky areas in Summerlin, and that actually is where I lived when I first moved to Las Vegas in 2011. Freeman's ex-wife described him to police as very persistent, relentless, and determined when he wants something, and said that he is aggressive and mean when he drinks. According to the arrest

report, she also said her desire for divorce stemmed from Freeman's past physical abuse. It was also reported that Freeman was having and expressing suicidal thoughts, saying things like, I don't have anything left to live for, and things are not good. I should just end it. Leading up to the incident on December 31st, 2023, his ex-wife stated that due to verbal and physical violence, she divorced him in October of 2023. One example of his abusive, terrorizing behavior occurred after a December 2, 2023 Christmas party in which Freeman was following his then-wife home. He called and got her to pull over, walked up to the window, and dropped his Glock service weapon in her lap and said, don't give me fucking attitude. She told the police the night of his

arrest that that freaked her out, which seems pretty reasonable to me. So very early in the morning of December 31st, 2023, Freeman showed up at his ex-wife's parents' house demanding to talk to her. When they didn't let him in, he started pounding on doors and windows. His ex-wife was terrified and she hid in a closet until the police showed up. Freeman claimed that he drove to her parents' house after seeing her post on social media that she was going to go to a Post Malone concert. He wanted to know who she was going to go with and if it was somebody from his work. He stated he believed she was seeing someone from his work and he had driven 30 minutes to her parents' house to see if he could catch them together. He was arrested and charged with several and after the mandatory 12-hour hold. Henderson police have stated that all inmates undergo medical and mental health screenings, and Freeman did as well. He was immediately suspended from the police force, which is great, but he was allowed to

keep his firearms, which is probably due to the fast nature of what happened, the fact that it was on a weekend, and the fact that he was a police officer. In retrospect, though, it seems like very much the wrong call, especially if you think about what might have happened if he had decided to pay another visit to his ex and her parents. Very scary. He was released at 5 p.m. on December 31st, 2023. At 6.39 p.m., the Henderson police were called to his residence and discovered Jake Freeman dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound and apparent suicide just 12 hours after his initial arrest. where an ex engaged in violence and stalking. In that case, it resulted in a family annihilation, whereas in this case, it resulted in a man, a police officer taking his own life. When I read about this series of incidents, all I could really think about was how this could very

easily have been a completely different headline and that his ex-wife and parents were quite lucky to still be alive. Yeah. And again, we see the elements of this toxic jealousy where Jake Freeman had become obsessed with finding out who his ex-wife is spending time with. He was also obviously stalking her social media. And as we pointed out with Dr. Amsrala, the perpetrators, victims, and survivors of violence come from all walks of life, even law enforcement. This story shocked a lot of people locally, as we now have a fuller picture of the details. At first, we heard the story about an officer being arrested for aggravated stalking, which is shocking enough. And that happened as soon

as the arrest was made early in the day on December 31st. However, his suicide was not confirmed or made public until January 2nd, 2024. So that conclusion to the story was even more disturbing. We are, of course, very grateful that Freeman's ex-wife and parents weren't harmed physically, anyway, and that the police did respond to their call and took Freeman into custody. Regardless of who your stalker is or what they do for work, do not hesitate to contact domestic violence advocates or call 911 to get the help you need. And again, like we always say, we'll provide those resources in the show notes. Next week, we have a story of a victim of stalking who was unable to

get her stalker to leave her alone or to get the help she needed from law enforcement. So she turned to a surprising place for some advice. Reddit. We are looking forward to sharing that with all of you next week. Thanks again for listening to another episode of Sins and Survivors. And now that you've finished, go ahead and share this episode with a friend because what happens here happens everywhere. Thanks for listening. Visit sinspod.co slash subscribe for exclusive bonus content and to listen ad-free. Remember to like and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Threads at Sins and Survivors. If you're enjoying the podcast, please leave us a review on your podcast platform of choice. You can contact us at questions at sinsandsurvivors. If you're enjoying the podcast, please leave us a review on your podcast platform

of choice. You can contact us at questions at sinsandsurvivors.com. If you or someone you know is affected by domestic violence or needs support, please reach out to local resources or the National Domestic Violence Hotline. A list of resources is available on our website, sinsandsurvivors.com. Sins and Survivors, a Las Vegas true crime podcast, is research written and produced by your hosts, Sean and John. The information shared in this podcast is accurate at the time of recording. If you have questions, concerns, or corrections, please email us. Links to source material for this episode can be found on our website, sinsandsurvivors.com. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the podcast creators,

hosts, and their guests. All individuals are innocent until proven guilty. This content does not constitute legal advice. Listeners are encouraged to consult with legal professionals for guidance.