The Murder of Marilyn Gandert

 

I have been watching a lot of television shows from Investigation Discovery on Demand lately. I recently watched episodes of their show “Murder Tapes.” If you have not watched this particular show while there are interviews with those involved, like most shows, a lot of what Murder Tapes show are police body cams, surveillance videos and even home security cameras. Of course not every single aspect of a crime is on some sort of video and even the show itself indicates that it may change names to protect people. That being said, I found something very interesting about this particular case when I went to do my research.

Looking into this case I found two fairly significant people that were not mentioned at all in the television show on this case. One was a lady by the name of Veronica Patterson and the other was another woman I only found a first name of Nikki. The fact that the television is only a hour long and Veronica had no role it seems in the murder of Marilyn, I can almost see why she was omitted from the story but she did live with the three people who were convicted of murder so I do find it a bit odd that she was not even mentioned. What I found more surprising is that Nikki was not mentioned at all in the television show. Now, Nikki was apparently not charged with anything but by her own admission she was involved and it was indicated that it was her admission that led to one of the arrests in the case.

Marilyn Gandert had apparently lived all of her life in New Mexico. At the time of her death on January 26, 2018 she was living in Albuquerque. Marilyn had one son, Ryan Bickett who had died in 2014. Now, again the television show did not go into great detail about Ryan. In fact, I do not believe they even mentioned him by name. However, my research indicated that Ryan was a fairly violent person throughout his life. Ryan had married Alissa and the two had three children together. It was alleged that Ryan had been very abusive to at the very least Alissa, if not also the children. It was alleged that Ryan would often wave a gun and “play” Russian Roulette with his wife and children watching and that on more than one occasion he had pointed the gun at Alissa and pulled the trigger. It was said that in August of 2014 Ryan lost the game and died as a result. Later it was said that Marilyn had “through a whisper campaign” spread rumors that Alissa had caused Ryan's death but from my understanding this statement came from Alissa's attorney so presumably the information came from Alissa, who at that time was charged with Marilyn's murder. The attorney also alleged that Marilyn had “minimized her son's monstrous conduct” which caused issues with Alissa. But again, this information would have likely come from Alissa so it may not be the most reliable.

While Ryan was alive he and his family had lived in a home owned by Marilyn. After his death Alissa continued to live there presumably with her children. I am unsure of the ages of the children except for son Drake who was said to be sixteen at the time. By all accounts Alissa was not keeping up on the rent and there were reports that the home was also being “trashed.” By December of 2018, the sixty-five year old Marilyn seemed to have had enough. She was nearing retirement from her job at the postal service, although it was unclear just how soon she planned to do so, and she had been supplementing the rent payment on the home Alissa was living in for several years. Her grandson Drake, who was twenty at the time, was living with his mother but it appears that all of Alissa's children were now adults. I have to wonder if this too played into the fact that Marilyn at this point went to the courts to have Alissa evicted from the home.

In the court filing Marilyn stated that Alissa had “stopped paying rent, not paying full rent” and had unauthorized people living in the home. In addition to this it was alleged that the utilities were also not being paid. It seems that at the time of the eviction Alissa, Drake and two other women, Annie Rael and Veronica Patterson, were living in the home. Alissa failed to go to the court hearing and on January 23^rd the sheriff's department “carried out the eviction.” While it seems that the eviction began on that day it also appears that not everything was removed from the home. By all accounts however Alissa no longer had a key to the home and would need to contact Marilyn to get back inside to retrieve her things. It also appears that Veronica Patterson must have gotten all of her things from the home at that time as I found no accounts in which it seems that she was at the home continuing to retrieve her belongings.

On the morning of Friday, January 26^th Marilyn was seen by neighbors as she supervised Alissa, Drake and Annie getting more of their things. One of the neighbors would later say they heard some arguing going on during that time but had not seen anything unusual it seems. This was the last time that Marilyn was seen alive. In the early morning hours of the 27^th a woman was driving home near Rio Rancho New Mexico, nearly fifteen miles from Albuquerque, saw something off the side of the road but did not stop to see what it was. Later that same day she went to the site and called the police. A charred body was found. It would be several days before the body was identified.

On the 28^th Harry Gandert, Marilyn's brother, and her friend Nancy called the Albuquerque police department. Marilyn's vehicle was in the drive but they could not get an answer at the door. Neither Harry nor Nancy had heard from Marilyn in a few days. In fact Harry had left a note on the door the day before and the note was still there. They both felt that something was wrong. Initially it seems that the police were not too worried but they did go over to the home in which Alissa had been living to see if they could talk to her. Alissa did so happen to be at the home and later, while they were still there Annie Rael would show up. Drake, Alissa's son and Marilyn's grandson, at least according to the television show was at the motel that he was staying at with his mother.

Investigators spoke with Alissa who stated that she had seen Marilyn on the morning of the 27^th when she went and retrieved the key to the home to get more of her things. They asked if they could walk through the home and they did so but did not anything unusual in the home. Within a few days the charred body that had been found was identified as Marilyn Gandert and investigators knew that Alissa had lied. The body and been seen prior to the time in which Alissa claimed she had seen Marilyn to retrieve the keys to the home. But, prior to that suspicion had not left Alissa or those in her household when friends and family of Marilyn had claimed there was no way that she would have just handed Alissa back the keys on that morning.

Five days after the first search had been done on the home that Alissa was living in another search was conducted, this search also included searching Annie Rael's truck that had been seen in the driveway of the home. It was then that investigators did see some evidence of small specks of blood in the home but what they found in the truck was even more interesting. There was blood in the back of the truck but inside contained Marilyn's purse, medication and keys to her vehicle.

Now this is when things get a little tricky for me to put together. As I mentioned earlier, I first came across this case by watching the television show Murder Tapes but my research on the case came from other sources. Going into watching the television show I believed it to be fairly factual and accurate considering that so much of it is video or audio taped. In those instances you hear what people actually said as opposed to relying on someone else to relay the information. However the show does have a disclaimer saying that some names or events could have been changed they do not indicate what those things are. Many times I can discover it in my research, which I did here, but this case was a bit different. As I mentioned earlier there was a huge player in this story that was never mentioned in the television show.

After the second search of the home, that included the search of Annie Rael's truck both Annie and Alissa were taken to the police station for questioning. The television show showed interviews that investigators had with the two women but I have been left to wonder if these interviews that were shown were not done until a much later time. It was indicated that both Alissa and Annie all but made confessions about what had happened on Friday, the 26^th of January and it was these confessions that led to their arrests, as well as the arrest of Alissa's son, Drake. However, my research indicated that it was not until May, four months after the murder, that Alissa and Annie were arrested and charged. And, it was nearly a month after that that Drake was arrested and only after his ex-girlfriend, Nikki, had gone to authorities.

Regardless of when they made statements as to what happened, both Alissa and Annie told fairly similar stories. They were not exact based on the fact it was believed that Alissa downplayed the role her son played in the murder of his grandmother while Annie apparently had no issue with implicating Drake. Both women indicated that on the morning of January 26^th Marilyn had gone to the home to basically supervise the packing up and moving from the home. It was stated, I believe by both women that upon her arrival to the home Drake had begged his grandmother to continue to allow them to live in the home. At some point, whether it was in this interview or not I cannot say, Annie stated that Marilyn had been rude to her and had stated that she was the reason Alissa and Drake were being evicted. Whether this was true I cannot say. Even if the statement is true there is no way of knowing for sure if Marilyn meant this specifically against Annie or simply the fact as the court documents stated, that Annie was “an unauthorized person” living in the home. Annie would tell authorities that when it was clear that Marilyn was not going to budge and allow them to continue living in the home that Alissa had “nodded” to her which indicated that she was to “tackle” Marilyn to which she did and began beating her. According to both women after this Alissa hit Marilyn in the head with a “small club.” They then bound her hands and feet and put plastic bags over her head. Annie said it was then that Drake repeatedly began stabbing Marilyn in the neck, although it appears that Alissa had left this out of her statement.

According to the television show it was then that Alissa, Annie and Drake wrapped Marilyn's body in a sheet, placed her in the back of Annie's truck, put a mattress on top and drove to the desert where they dumped the body and the mattress and set it on fire. The show also indicated that it was at this point that the women were arrested at the police station and Drake was found and also arrested. However, my research indicates that this is not exactly what happened.

As I stated my research stated that Alissa and Annie were arrested and charged with Marilyn's murder in May. On June 4^th Drake's ex-girlfriend, Nikki, talked to law enforcement. It seemed unclear whether Nikki was at the home when the murder occurred and whether she had a different account of what initially happened but according to Nikki after the murder Alissa and Annie threatened her at knife and gunpoint and forced her to drive Annie's truck. Nikki claimed that Alissa held a gun on her for entire ride. According to the television show it was Annie who poured the gasoline and set the mattress on fire but according to Nikki this was done by Alissa. Nikki apparently did have information about Drake's involvement also and eleven days later he was also arrested and charged with the murder of his grandmother. It appears that they were also all charged with tampering of evidence.

Annie was the first to accept a plea deal by prosecutors. Part of the deal was that she would testify against both Alissa and Drake if necessary. Both Alissa and Drake would plead guilty to second degree murder and conspiracy to commit first degree murder. It appears that Annie's deal determined that she would be sentenced to twelve years in prison while the other two apparently left the sentencing up to the judge. In July of 2019 Alissa was sentenced to thirty years in prison. Three months later, in October of that year Drake would receive a sentence of twenty-six years. Attorney's for both Alissa and Drake had argued for lighter sentences.

Drake's attorney's argued that he had been diagnosed with bi-polar disorder and ADHD and that his use of meth was related to this. They also argued that Drake's childhood had been marred with violence with his father. He faced a minimum of twenty-four years and a maximum of thirty. The judge stated that he was only slightly less culpable than Alissa and set his sentence at twenty-six. Alissa's attorney seemed to take a bit of a different approach. They not only argued that Alissa's husband, Marilyn's son Ryan Bickett, had been extremely abusive but that Marilyn had been dismissive of his behavior and had actually accused Alissa of murdering her son. It seems that basically, while Alissa had not apparently murdered Ryan, her attorney's attempted to put a bit of a twist to the battered woman's syndrome. The judge believed that Alissa was the “ringleader” or mastermind of the murder as it was said it had been discussed prior to Marilyn coming to the home that day and gave her the maximum sentence allowed.

I found a few interesting things related to this murder in my research. It was said that Marilyn had died without a will. Most believe that Alissa believed that if Marilyn was dead she would no longer have to worry about the home considering the fact that Ryan had been her only child and the children she shared with him were Marilyn's only grandchildren. Presumably Alissa believed that one or all of her children would inherit Marilyn's estate and in essence the home would become hers. Alissa's oldest daughter, Skyla was appointed to represent Marilyn's estate. It seems that while she did not want to believe that her mother and brother had been involved in the murder, she was not involved herself and by the few statements I saw it seemed little love was lost between them. Due to the fact that Drake was involved in the murder Skyla had the right to use the “slayer law” to prevent him from gaining anything from the estate but it is unclear whether she did this or not.

The other interesting thing that I found in my research involved Alissa's criminal past. She's obviously currently imprisoned on the charges related to the murder of Marilyn but under “past offenses” (which by the way she was the only one of the three defendants to have these) there were charges of “battery upon a household member,” “DWI- 2^nd offense,” “child abuse not GBH (great bodily harm)/Death 1^st offense,” and “disorderly conduct.” All of the previous offenses said her sentences were “complete” but I still found them interesting. These charges indicate that either Ryan was not the only abusive parent in the home, or she was possibly charged at some point for failing to protect her children, or at least this is how I read this. None of these charges had dates as to when they occurred so I have no way of really knowing if these were before or after Ryan's death in 2014.