Snapped: Women Who Murder - Sharon Maxwell

Episode Date: August 29, 2021

In Gilmer, Texas, firefighters find a man's charred body while battling a vehicle fire, and the ensuing investigation reveals a sinister murder plot that shocks the residents of the small town.Season 23, Episode 25Originally aired: August 5, 2018Watch full episodes of Snapped for FREE on the Oxygen app: https://oxygentv.app.link/WsLCJWqmIebSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hi, I'm Lindsey Graham, the host of Wondries Podcast American Scandal. Our newest series looks at the story of OxyContin, a popular painkiller that helps spur an epidemic of addiction and drug abuse, in which prompted a broad campaign to hold the pharmaceutical industry accountable. Listen to American Scandal on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. Sharon and Gordon Maxwell were living proof that when it comes to love, people can get second chances. They were teenage lovers. Then they reconnect after all these years. It is fairytale. Come true.

Until a mysterious fire burns the life they built together down to the ground. The person's truck is on fire, back yard. She's frantic, she can't find her husband. They could see under some charred debris inside the vehicle, a body. As detectives search for answers, they will soon ask themselves, was this truly an accident? Or was this fiery romance doomed from the start? They were septic funny about this whole thing. Here's what happened here, is it?

Yeah, we have a relationship. I've never had a relationship. You involved in what happened in the last two months? No, it's okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay.

Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay.

August 30, 2011. It's a typical Tuesday morning in the East Texas community of Oars City. Oars City is a small town in the country. The population is probably somewhere around a thousand people. It would be your classic. Everybody knows everybody. Kind of town. But the residents of this sleepy little town are about to get a jolt of adrenaline. It starts around 11 a.m. when a 911 call reaches area dispatchers. Hi, Carmen. Hi, Ed. Hi, Ed.

Hi, I'm the husband of Turkey. Don't buy that yard. Chair Maxwell calls 911. She's frantic, reporting a vehicle fire. That she can't find her husband Gordon Maxwell. I don't know where my husband went to and all her clothes, I can't find him no less. In addition to the fire and her missing husband, Sharon Maxwell is also concerned that the burning truck may contain live ammunition. She could hear loud bangs, she described them as sounding like a gun or gunfire. The head of the bullet, sir. He's a dead guy.

OK, don't go out there. Moments later, the Orcidye Volunteer Fire Department arrives on the scene, along with officers from the Upshire County Sheriff's Office. They find Sharon, her 19-year-old son James, and her brother-in-law, Christopher. The brother was a volunteer fireman. It was passing by the residents and saw the smoke.

When the Or City Fire Department arrives, Chris was out back with a water hose trying to put this fire out, and then the volunteer fire department took over. The truck was consumed at that point. They were able to get the fire put out. Once the fire is contained, officers move in to assess the damage. They could see under some charred debris inside the vehicle a body. The body was charred beyond recognition.

There was no clothing remained on the body. Could the first responders be staring at the remains of Sharon's husband, 46-year-old Gordon Maxwell? That's the fear of everyone at the scene. Chris Maxwell was attempting to console or calm Sharon Maxwell down. Everything was evolving rapidly. We had something bad happening. Born in Gladewater, Texas,

Gordon Maxwell was the strong silent type. His personality lent an air of mystery about him that proved captivating to more than one young woman at Orciddy High School. He was very quiet and reserved, but he was such a sweet, kind, caring person. And he had lots of friends. But Gordon only had eyes for one girl at Orciddy High,

the beautiful blue-eyed Sharon Stanley. They started dating. Sharon was probably intense. I don't know, it was the 11th grade. They was high school sweethearts. This wasn't your average high school fling though. Gordon and Sherin were itching to get married. They was both way too young and both parents was like no. In the end, this love struck couple

ascended to their parental demands and ultimately broke up. Heartbroken, Gordon left town the first chance he got. Once you graduate from high school, you can't wait to get out of there, especially if you are not allowed to marry your sweetheart. Gordon moved to Koshada, Louisiana, where he spent his 20s drinking, carousing, and working as a mill worker. Eventually, Gordon sobered up, settled down with a woman named Ronda Holman and found Jesus.

After Gordon and I married, we started going to church. We went to church for several years, and he felt like God was calling them to the ministry. He took some seminary classes and bozer city. Then he was licensed to preach after that. For more than five years, Gordon preached at a local church. He and Ronda lived a quiet but satisfying life. I had a daughter and we kept the grandkids a lot, which he was crazy about.

They were his grandkids, you know. He was very family-oriented. In November of 2010, Gordon started dabbling in social media. He had a laptop computer. And of course, that was when the Facebook craze started. So he got reacquainted with some friends from his hometown. Gordon and Sharon found each other after all this time. Well, Pastor Gordon had a congregation he loved,

and a wife he'd been happily married to for 15 years, Sharon's life had taken a much different turn. She was a big part with a bunch of people. I would say that Sharon Maxwell enjoyed being with and relationships. And she'd been married nine times. At first, each of Sharon's husbands felt they'd won the lottery. Well, I was very happy. It was exactly what I pictured out of life.

I mean, it was fairy tale come true. I mean, it was very tail-com-true. That is, until Sharon moved on. She couldn't stick with one person. If somebody didn't have enough to offer, she'd go to somebody else. It was no problem for her walking out the door. She didn't cry to her or have any remorse over it. She'd walk out and never look back.

over it. She'd walk out and never looked back. By the fall of 2010, Sharon was a 42-year-old single mother with nine divorces under her belt. She had five children, I don't know about having a different man too. I believe we're grown too. We're still in school and one was sort of in between. Despite her love and leave them approached to men, deep down Sharon longed to reconnect with the one who captured her heart all those years ago. So when Sharon found 45-year-old Gordon on Facebook, she wasted no time sending him a private message.

They started talking. Maybe it was nothing at first. Maybe it was just a friendship at first. But it didn't take long for Sharon and Gordon to rekindle their romance. He up and reconnects with this old flame that he hadn't seen or heard from in years and years, been some feelings there a long time. Soon, Gordon was sneaking off to Texas for intimate encounters with Sharon.

And after just two weeks of being with Sharon, Gordon told his wife, Ronda, that their marriage of 15 years was over. I tried to talk to him about God and how he was, you know, not doing the right thing, but he didn't do any good. He still left. He left the next day. Leaving behind his church and his wife, in November of 2010, Gordon moved back to Orr City

and moved in with Sharon and her three youngest children, high schoolers Kara and Lucas, and 19-year-old James. Gordon worked at a local meal company, US Steel, and he was a maintenance individual that worked on all the mechanical problems, whatever that may be, and he was very skilled. Sharon, she did not work. So having someone in her life that filled that void

and provided financially for her was very important. In a place the size of Orr City, it didn't take long for Gordon and Sharon's rekindled romance to become the talk of the town. His aunt, when she found out who he was seeing, she asked him, Gordon, do you know that woman has been married nine times? And she said he looked at her and said,

and I'm going to be number 10 if she'll let me. On March 20, 2011, less than six months after moving in together and just two days after Gordon's divorce from Ronda was official, Gordon and Sharon tied the knot. She said that she loved him, that she was in a great loving relationship with Gordon. It's just like the sad thing out of a Hollywood script.

Little did these newlyweds know their romance would be snuffed out almost as abruptly as it had begun. It was determined there was a body inside. And once that happened, this became a crime scene investigation. Coming up, investigators spot an unusual detail at the Maxwell's home. There were a lot of cleaning products placed around the kitchen area. And a shocking discovery tips the scales of this investigation in a dangerous new direction.

The aha moment was definitely the one place all the blood is better. As the summer of 2011 was coming to a close, or city newlyweeds, Sharon and Gordon Maxwell, were celebrating an unlikely love story that was nearly 30 years in the making. But just as Gordon and Sharon were beginning to build their new life together, chaos erupted at their East Texas home. I'm just counting on one. I hope this truck is on fire. Get back to your house. When firefighters brought the blaze under control, they made a horrific discovery inside the truck, a charred human body.

The discovery sends Sharon into a deeper frenzy. Her brother-in-law, Chris Maxwell, a volunteer fireman who helped extinguish the blaze, tries to comfort her. She was acting very frantic, crying a lot, upset. Sharon's 19-year-old son, James, is also on the scene. He appears to be in a great amount of pain, but he also appears to be very groggy.

He's described by officers when they see him as someone who had just woken up. Sharon explains that James is recovering from kidney surgery. He appears so weak officers become concerned for his health. They call for paramedics to check him out. James had exerted himself actually looking for Gordon. He was taken from the scene, my ambulance. She was then asked to voluntarily come to the Sheriff's Office

and provide a statement. While patrol officers escort Sharon to the Sheriff's Office, fire investigators take a look at the charred body inside the truck. It was clearly a human being, but he was not able to be identified by side. With Gordon Maxwell nowhere to be found, and with the truck registered in his name, investigators operate on the belief that the body is his. But they want to determine how and explain how this fire started and why he was inside the truck and unable to get out. They come up here, there's tools around there, the hood is popped,

that indicated that he was working on the vehicle. How to Gordon accidentally started a fire while working on the truck, and did he suffer a medical emergency that kept him from escaping the flames? Did he have a heart attack, perhaps? You know, was this a natural death sentence? He went haywire and the thing got on fire. Some type of a spark between electrical components that allow the truck to combust.

As the scene is being processed, detectives back at the Sheriff's Office are speaking with Sharon. She tells them that Gordon came home that morning after working the night shift at the steel plant. She says Gordon gets home. They both took the kids to school. School starts around eight, so they make the trip to school, drop the kids off, come back, and he's gonna go work on the truck. They needed to go out and work on the truck and she described it as an electrical problem. He used to, when he said something this morning, he said, it wasn't really not. It was fitness, but I'm talking to him.

I know he was tired. She tries to get him to go to sleep, because he must be tired from working. And she's going to go take a shower. He says it's going to go over on the truck. She gets out of the shower. Here's an explosion. Goes out and sees go over on the truck. She gets out of the shower. Here's an explosion. Goes out and sees trucks on the fire.

I'm gonna head to the bathroom. Gonna walk through the town of the bedroom, out of bathroom, to that strange door. It was so dark. So dark. She runs out there screaming for him. Wonder where he is. is wakes up James.

Sharon says they looked for Gordon until their search was interrupted by loud bangs coming from the truck. If you could just cry out to them always, what would it sound like? According to Sharon, Gordon always kept bullets in his truck. With bullets flying and the fire growing bigger by the second, Sharon says she and James retreated inside where she called 911.

Within seconds of making the call, Christopher showed up. Christopher is going to be showing that her team is there like right after our call. Sharon says Christopher attempted to put out the blaze with a garden hose until fire trucks arrived. Investigators tell Sharon that while they have yet to make a formal identification, they suspect the body and the truck belongs to her husband.

As investigators wrap up their interview with Sharon, they learn that her son James has been released from the hospital. Within the hour, he joins Sharon at the Sheriff's Office to provide a statement. Tell us a little bit about what you know, what happened tonight. How are you asleep? office to provide a statement. He had had a surgery and operation. The medication he had been prescribed would cause him to be groggy. I read our sign, I said, Gordon, Gordon, I couldn't go out there. I mean, I can't get close to anyone because it started.

Everything was blowing up. James' interview seems to support Sharon's account that Gordon may have accidentally started the fire while working on his truck, but investigators are unsure why Gordon was unable to escape before the blaze turned deadly. The issue that Gordon had described to the co-work was very minor. Nothing that would have electrically caused a truck to randomly combust.

There was no logical explanations as to why he was not able to get out. Hoping to resolve this mystery, investigators return to the crime scene. When they arrive, the medical examiner is removing the body from the truck, a process that unerths a critical piece of evidence. You could smell gasoline. As physical evidence is removed, you could smell the gasoline on him. That's what we call clue. A clue that someone has intentionally placed an accelerant

on a body that should not be there. With no one but Gordon's family at the scene, investigators secure a warrant to search the residence. What they find immediately raises more red flags. When we entered into the residence, you could clearly see that there were a lot of cleaning products placed around the kitchen area. But in the bedroom, they find the most troubling clue yet.

The aha moment was definitely the one place all the blood was better in the bedroom. Then, investigators spray luminol on the wall behind the bed and uncover even more blood. It was very clear that there was a great amount of high velocity blood that could not be seen with AI, but the chemical agent illuminates it. That's when you knew the crime had been committed in the house. Did Sharon and James lie in their statements to police? Between the blood spatter and the gas residue,

investigators know more went down on the Maxwell's property than their stories indicate. However, they also know there's one person on the scene who they haven't interviewed yet. Gordon's firefighter brother, 28-year-old Christopher Maxwell. How odd a coincidence that his brother just happened to be the first responder to his brother's house. The very fact that he's present when the fire's put out

and then his brother's body is found. Clearly, he has to be questioned. Coming up, small town gossip begins to swirl and threatens to alter the entire direction of the case. Never a straight line and a straight line in the fair. But just as one allegation surfaces, the or city rumor mill generates a potential suspect. He starts bragging that he's the one who killed Gord. or new-killed gourd.

Whatever your plans this summer, podcasts will make them better. Long road trip? Lose yourself in the season of morbid. While laxing up the beach? Have a good laugh with SmartList. And right now is the perfect time to discover the summer of podcasts with two months free of Wondery Plus. With Wondery Plus, you get early and ad free access to your favorite podcasts.

You can also listen to our entire library of award-winning, binge-wready shows. That's thousands of hours of captivating content in any genre you like, from true crime to business, comedy sports, history, and even podcasts for the whole family. With Wondery Plus, you also get access to special live events found nowhere else, as well as discounts in the Wondery Shop. Don't let the summer of podcasts pass you by. Right now, new subscribers can enjoy two months free of Wondery Plus. Visit Wondery.com or download the Wondery app to get started.

When officers from the Upsher County Sheriff's Office responded to a 911 call at the home of Gordon and Sharon Maxwell, they had reason to suspect Gordon may have died in an accidental truck fire. But a jaw-dropping discovery made inside Gordon and Sharon's master bedroom has them rethinking that theory. They could say that there was splits better on the wall. In the bedroom, it's a pretty good indication of whoever's in the truck was probably killed in this room. While investigators fully intend to confront Sharon Maxwell and her son James with this new evidence, they need to interview one other person first. They really intend to confront Sharon Maxwell and her son James with this new evidence.

They need to interview one other person first. Gordon's brother, 28-year-old volunteer firefighter, Christopher Maxwell. As an investigator, you know, you want to talk to everyone, especially the ones that could have been involved that were in close proximity, where the body was found. The happens to have been the first off the scene.

This seems like an ancient coincidence. Detective suspicions are raised further by the fact that as news of the fire spread through Or City, so do some stunning rumors. Going as brother, I heard that her human sharing was actually having a affair. In any investigation, you have to keep an open mind to all possibilities.

Detectives bring Christopher in for questioning on August 31st. They begin by asking him about his unusually quick response the day before. My understanding is, you were the first world to, I was the first one. So how did that happen? According to Christopher, he was driving by his brother's home when he happened to see smoke.

I met a biocliners crew. So I was six fingers on. No, the barn bans. My little thing to look like is in here. I seen that the hell in that black smoke turned up through that spirit. You must be ready. MUSIC Chris says he raced to his brother's house

and pounded on Gordon's front door. He's met at the door by Sharon. Sharon is freshly-shoured. In fact, that cooperates what she said in her 911 call. With Christopher a corroborating part of Sharon's statement, detectives turn their attention to the rumors that Chris and Sharon may have been having an

affair. So what has somebody said that they were under the impression that you were dating or seen Sharon before she met up with them? It's wrong. Tell me wrong. But here's how I'm here is it before you butt a big bang, y'all are in a relationship. I've never had a relationship with her ever.

So let's go back. I don't know why. Never with spreading line and maybe having a affair. I'm not going to work with an impure. I'm not going to run for you. I never. Chris asserts not only has he never gone out with Sharon, but until yesterday, he'd never even set foot inside her house.

We're not about one hair. Not for your body and the house. No. Chris' for then offers up an alibi to account for his time in the hours before the fire broke out. When investigators follow up on Christopher's claims, they discover his alibi is airtight. We were able to confirm that he was at Walmart through receipts and video. They gave him a polygraph.

I didn't indicate that he is telling the truth that he hadn't anything to do with this. With Christopher Maxwell ruled out as a suspect in his brother's apparent murder, investigators questioned Sharon for a second time. They begin by grilling her about the blood evidence found in her bedroom. There's blood in the bedroom. There's blood on the ceiling. There's some crime scene now inside of her house. She is confronted with that.

It's been a lot of you to tell us the truth. What's your place? That's when Sharon suddenly changes her story. She was evolving. Well, we did have problems. He did threaten me. He was abusive and aggressive towards me. Sharon tells police that her short-lived marriage to Gordon was marred by abuse.

Abuse that came to a head after they dropped Sharon's two youngest kids off at school earlier that morning. As soon as they drop the kids off at school, earlier that morning. As soon as they drop the kids off, Gordon starts in on her. He's physically attacking her, or even puts a pistol in her mouth. Thank you, guys. About there, I had to slide me down.

The band told me I wasn't going anywhere. What happened to me, Sharon? You did a good, good, good, good, good, bad. A good one out, but I don't know what happened. Sharon claims when the gun went off, the bullet struck Gordon in the head, killing him, and she did the only thing that she could think of. Her story is that she wrapped the body in a blanket, took it outside and inserted it into the truck.

She tells police she doused Gordon with gasoline and lit him on fire. James, she claims, slept soundly through it all. It's been taking a lot of medicine, so I've got the right thing. Paul, they noticed the truck so far. I'm doing fine. I'm doing fine. Sharon Max will try to portray herself as someone that had been physically abused

and threatened by Gordon. Sure, when the woman is going to get in the auto and then walk her wheel up and have a truth for you. Because the truth is one way or another, it won't come out. The entire truth. Unable to confirm or refute Sharon's claim of self-defense, at this point, investigators decide not to press formal charges against her.

She was trying to explain things away. She was free to go, she was not under arrest. Sharon collects a few of her belongings and heads to her son's home. Shortly after that, detectives received the findings from the autopsy conducted on the body retrieved from Gordon's truck.

We were able to match up the teeth with dental records from his dentist to prove that the identity of that body was one in the same of Gordon Maxwell. The autopsy report also provides a window into Gordon's official cause of death, one that seems at odds with Sharon's most recent statement. The forensic evidence indicated that he had been shot in the house,

in fact, he'd been shot four times. She's saying the gun went off once. She's lying. Investigators know that one gunshot could be self-defense, but four? Multiple times at close range, an up-close, angry, violent act of I want you dead. Based on the autopsy results, investigators have no choice but to arrest Sharon for Gordon's

murder. But by now, Sharon has hired an attorney and refuses to answer any additional questions. She was arrested, she was put in jail, in the investigation continued. With Sharon unable to post bail, investigators continue to work the case for the next three months. To err on the side of caution, we redid a new search warrant to now look for evidence of blood, DNA, blood spatter, hair fibers. There were multiple warts that had to be executed.

But then, in December of 2011, the case takes an unexpected turn with information that comes from a relative, information that revolves around Sharon's 19-year-old son, James. William Eric Potter, the half-brother, was saying that James Potter had shot and killed Gordon Maxwell. On December 28, 2011, investigators track down William Potter, who'd been arrested for an unrelated incident

and bring him in for an interview. William tells the law that he has been out drinking with James. They've been in a party together and the James starts bragging that he's the one who killed Gordon. That particular morning, even in Erimorg Gordon, up his self, and when he looked up, he shot him in the head. And then they drove him out to the truck and put him in the truck. Board gas on him and said, don't fire.

But it's what William says next that really gets their attention. Turns out William knows exactly how many times four the Gordon has been shot. This is not common knowledge at that point. Coming up, as the case against James Gaines' momentum, Sharon comes forward with another admission. But another bombshell revelation suggests there's still more to the story than Sharon's letting on.

Inside the bedroom where Gordon Maxwell was shot, his wedding ring was found on top of a dresser. Someone was leaving her, and she snapped. December of 2011, four months have passed since Texas authorities recovered Gordon Maxwell's burned remains from inside his pickup truck. According to Gordon's wife Sharon, she shot her husband and former high school sweetheart out of self-defense. She had painted Gordon as abusive and controlling, but it had a struggle and the gun had accidentally gone off and killed him.

MUSIC However, as Texas authorities worked to confirm the validity of Sharon's story, a new witness named William Potter claimed it was his half-brother Sharon's 19-year-old son, James, who actually killed Gordon. William is interviewed by law enforcement. His statement was at a party that James says

that he shot Gordon four times. Is Sharon attempting to take the fall for her son? Or is there another layer to this mystery yet to be uncovered? In March of 2012, about six months after her husband's murder, Sharon Maxwell breaks her silence. She came forward through her attorneys saying I want to give another statement. Her attorney was present with her.

She says that shortly after Gordon moved in with her, it became clear that he and her son James didn't get along. She said they had a bad relationship. James did not like Gordon, and that ultimately Gordon told him he had to live by a set of rules. Sharon says that when James refused to live by Gordon's rules, Gordon told James he had to move out. That's when James, still in pain from his recent surgery and groggy from his meds, did the unsinkable.

She was in the kitchen, cooking, bam. My gun goes off in the bed, right? She runs in there. Oh, my gosh, what are you doing? I'm doing a lot of things. You know what's blood out of this? I'm doing it. I'm just doing everything.

I'm doing what I'm doing. It's great. Look at you from calling out one month at that time. I'm just going to tell you what you're doing, so just... I'm just going to tell you what you're sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Sharon claims that she and James eventually came up with a plan. They dragged Gordon's body to the truck and set it on fire.

I was just waiting for you. I was waiting for you. I was waiting for you. I was just waiting for you. I was waiting for you. I was waiting don't need to put another picture up. It's you. If they ask what she's saying she's guilty for is not telling the truth, but the reason she didn't do that was because she was trying to be a protective mom. Detectives talked to James again about his mother's latest allegations.

We told him what his mother had said. He was shot by it. He was shot by it. He was upset by it. He involved in what happened in any way. No, please. Did you help her remove the body from the house? No, please. I didn't do the thing.

His story does not change, unlike Sharon's. James tells them that when he bragged about killing Gordon, he was simply drunk and trying to impress his older brother. James was trying to puff himself up, make himself sound like he was tougher than he really was. By saying he committed this murder. Now, when statements were made around a bonfire, alcohols being consumed, sometimes there's credibility to statements that are made. In this particular case, however, there was no credibility to any of the individuals that came forward. And that's why I said it was very important from the initial observation of James Potter at the

scene. He had not freshly shouted. He had just woken up. He appeared to be under the influence of the prescribed narcotics. Although in pain from the surgery, he had not ruptured or busted any stitching. James Potter had no signs that he had participated in that whatsoever. With James' alleged involvement proved false, investigators are still in need of evidence that can solidify their case against Sharon. When investigators dig into the couple's relationship, they find that those who knew Gordon say there was no way

he was abusive. She tried to say that he was mean to her and abusive and there's no way that Gordon Maxwell was a main abusive person. There wasn't any evidence to corroborate her claim that he was an abusive and controlling person. In fact, when police start talking to some of Sharon's exes, they find that if anyone was abusive in the marriage, it was likely to be her. We found other ex-husbands that were able to talk to us.

She had been very aggressive, had attacked them and before, threatened them before. So there was a pattern with Sharon Maxwell. We started getting physical, and she'd getting up my face and pushing, and yeah, it got pretty bad. Besides her propensity for violence, Sharon's exes say she also had another pretty serious

character flaw, infidelity. She was messing around on me apparently, me and way through our whole marriage. Sharon was a man hungry, over-saxed human being. And as it turns out, even though Gordon was Sharon's self-professed, one true love, that hadn't stopped her from cheating on him as well. While she was made to Gordon, she was having an affair with a gabsence 2009. When investigators speak to Sharon's paramore, they learn he tried to end things with Sharon months before Gordon's murder, with violent results.

The man said, I no longer want to see you or talk to you, and she jumped into his truck and attacked him, physically biting him. Deputies arrived. We were able to produce pictures, but he did not want to follow report for personal reasons in his own marriage. Gordon's co-workers tell investigators that it didn't take long for Gordon to uncover the truth.

And it broke his heart when he learned that she had cheated on him. And it was devastating to him. He had told co-workers that this marriage would not last. How to crestfallen Gordon finally told Sharon he was leaving her only to be met with deadly violence? That's what investigators suspect, but questions remain. We want to see what would make a person one get married 10 times and then kill this husband,

but not some of the ones before. What was the motivation? Investigators discover that at least part of her motivation may have been financial. There was a big life insurance policy on Gordon. And of course, guess who the beneficiary was going to be? It was going to be Sherry. Reviewing photos taken of the crime scene the day of the murder,

investigators uncover what they believe is the missing piece of the puzzle. Inside the bedroom where Gordon Maxwell was shot, his wedding ring was found on top of a dresser. We believe when he took the ring off his hand and placed it on the dresser, he told Sharon Maxwell he was done. And just like when her lover tried to break things off several months earlier, investigators

believe that in that moment Sharon went berserk. Someone was leaving her. She snapped. She went violent and said, you're not going to leave me. She then walks over opposite the room. Pulls out of you gun. And shoots him, first time in the head, and then multiple times in the head and then multiple times in the head. The gunshot. Investigators believe that after dragging Gordon to the truck, she threw several handfuls of live ammo into the cab

along with the spotty. She had put the bullets in there to make it look like the fire had caused him to be shot. She thought that the fire would cause these bullets to expel, and that somehow would explain why there were bullets found in Gordon Maxwell. Cross-acuters finally agreed to move forward with charges against Sharon Maxwell.

Still, they know that when the trial gets underway, Sharon's attorneys will point the finger at her son James. And if the jury believes them, Sharon will walk free. We really needed to show the jury through our experts and through our actual test amount of what she was capable of. Coming up, Sharon and her son face off in open court. She said that her son, Jane F. Potter, had killed Gordon Maxwell.

Sharon said, if I did anything, I helped him clean up the house afterwards, but I did not kill my husband. He's being called to defend himself from his mother. I very directly asked him, did you have any part in the murder of Gordon Maxwell? In August of 2012, Sharon Maxwell's murder trial gets underway. In opening statements, her defense team again claims that her now 20-year-old son, James, shot and killed his mother's 10th husband, Gordon Maxwell, in a fit of rage.

And they used James' own statements to support that theory. At some point at a party, he was bragging about how he had shot Gordon Maxwell and gotten away with it. They were married to the James theory. Everything was built around that. Sharon's defense also brings into question whether or not Sharon was capable of dragging Gordon to the truck by herself. Sharon's courtroom appearance bolsters these doubts. She looked like a string bean, a little old lady. She looked like this frail, little mybarian. How could this woman put a 260 pound man in this vehicle when she's not nearly that big? Prosecutors remind jurors that the woman they're looking at today isn't the same person she was in 2011. She was not this frail looking woman at the time that the murder happened and that she had grown up in the country on arms, hauling hay, those types of things.

She had strength and combined with the adrenaline that she would have been going through in that moment, she would have been more than capable. To refute Sharon's claims of innocence, prosecutors call her son James to the witness stand. Now he's being called. He has to defend himself from his mother. I very directly asked him, did you have any part in the murder

of Gordon Maxwell, and then it was no. He was then allowed to be cross-examined by the Defense Council for Sharon Maxwell. And he withstood cross-examination. It's easy to do when you're telling the truth. In fact, prosecutors argue that a hefty life insurance policy, along with Sharon's desire to keep Gordon and her other lover under her thumb, provided strong motive behind Gordon's murder.

She fits the pattern of borderline personality disorders in that they will not tolerate rejection. They will not tolerate you leaving them. They can leave. They can cheat. But they will not allow you to do that. On August 24th, after less than an hour of deliberations, the jury finds Sharon Maxwell guilty. She received the maximum sentence of life. I hope she spends the rest of her life in Parisian.

She didn't realize what she had, because he was such a sweet, kind, caring person. When Sharon and Gordon married, Sharon announced that the marriage would be her last. And although this is not the fairy tale ending, she and Gordon seemed headed for, it appeared. Sharon was right. No human being deserves what he got that day. And to be shot in the head and having

your body barmed, I mean what kind of person does that? Sharon Maxwell will be eligible for parole in 2041. She will be 73 years old. James Potter was never charged in connection to the murder of Gordon Maxwell. You