A Florida man allegedly killed his mother, who had recently bonded him out of jail and had moved to the state to get him mental health help.
Gibson Nash, 21, was charged with first-degree murder after a series of perplexing events eventually led police to his mother’s bloodied body.
Deputies with the Polk County Sheriff’s Office found Margaret Chu Dufour, a 56-year-old nurse, on the floor of her home in Polk County, Florida. It wasn’t their first encounter with her.
About a month before, deputies responded to a “disturbance” at the home involving her moving company.
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The “movers tried to upcharge her and charge her more money,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said in a news conference on Aug. 5.
After movers left, his deputies helped her finish moving items into her new home “without fanfare,” Judd said.
“That’s the kind of customer service our deputies do.”
So deputies with the same department were horrified to find her dead on the floor a month later. It was the culmination of a series of puzzling events on the morning of July 21, Judd said.
Just before 7 a.m., her son was involved in multiple traffic crashes while driving her vehicle, a blue BMW SUV, Judd said.
After fleeing the first crash, Nash allegedly hit a slew of other vehicles with the SUV, Judd said. The rampage caused more property damage, additional crashes between other vehicles, and ultimately, injuries to three people, who were treated at a hospital.
Deputies then found Nash unconscious behind the wheel of the SUV covered in blood. That confused deputies, Judd said.
“It was a significant crash, but it was like, ‘Why is he unconscious?’” Judd said.
Deputies tried to sort it out at the scene.
“He’s got blood on his hands, and the paramedic thinks this is not a bloody kind of crash. Where did the blood come from?”
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Nash was taken to a local hospital with an unknown identity. He was sedated and intubated.
Meanwhile, deputies went to Dufour’s house because it was shown on the vehicle’s registration. She didn’t answer their knock at the door.
They learned that she wasn’t supposed to be at work that day. They saw a broken glass plate near her patio door and a shovel near the side of the house.
Because of the “suspicious circumstances,” they entered the house with a key they found on the front porch, according to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies then found Dufour “stomped into a bloody puddle in the middle of the floor,” Judd said.
The medical examiner said she died from “blunt force injury from a beating, and from being strangled to death,” Judd said.
“It’s one of the most, personally, violent murders we’ve seen in a very long time,” said the sheriff, who’s been in law enforcement 54 years.
In April, Nash had been arrested twice for allegedly threatening to kill his mother. They both lived in Knoxville, Tennessee, at the time. The first time, Dufour had called 911 after locking the door behind her after entering a smoke shop, leaving him in her vehicle just outside.
She told the 911 operator that her son had “attacked” her the night before and “assaulted” her that morning, Judd said. The only way she could get him to calm down was agreeing to take him to the smoke shop, she said on the call.
Shortly after, Nash was arrested for allegedly threatening to kill her with a knife. Later that month, Nash pulled a knife and threatened to kill her again, this time “over not being able to play on the Xbox,” Judd said.
Soon after, Dufour moved to Florida. But she returned to Tennessee to bond her son out of jail, Judd said.
Her move south was an attempt to get Nash more mental health treatment, Judd said. Family members told investigators that he’s “bipolar, schizophrenic and maybe autistic.”
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While in the hospital after the July traffic crashes in Florida, blood on his clothing was tested and found to be his mother’s, Judd said.
Investigators found “remarkable” bruising on his knuckles and feet “from where he kicked and kicked and stomped and beat his mother,” Judd said.
Nash also was in liver failure from overdosing on Tylenol, Judd said.
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Dufour had recently started work as a nurse on the surgery floor at Bartow Regional Medical Center.
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Nash’s lawyer, hired by his father, wouldn’t let law enforcement interview him.
“Fortunately for us, he made some omissions without being interviewed,” Judd said.
It was not immediately clear who Nash’s attorney is.
Nash also has been charged with two third-degree felonies for “leaving the scene of a crash involving injury.”
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“Gibson Nash needs to remain locked away from the public forever,” Judd said.
He is currently held without bond in a Polk County jail.
“The way he murdered his mother was a mix of pure rage and extreme violence. After killing her, he caused two vehicle crashes on a busy road. He has no respect for others and is a clear threat to society.”