Columbus police seek 83-year-old widow’s car after her Monday homicide

An 83-year-old widow described as “a mother of the church” at Columbus’ Shady Grove Missionary Baptist Church was found slain Monday in her home at Eighth Street and Fulton Avenue.

Police were summoned Monday afternoon to 2324 8th St. where resident Peggy Gamble was found dead. Investigators found evidence someone had broken into her home, they said.

Deputy Coroner Charles Newton said Gamble was pronounced dead at 1:34 p.m. Her body will be sent to Atlanta for an autopsy, he said.

Detectives said they are searching for a beige 1988 Toyota Corolla with Georgia tag PGD 3863. The vehicle was missing from Gamble’s home, they said. Anyone who sees the car is asked to call 911 or the detective bureau at 706-653-3400.

“She was a wonderful person,” the Rev. Richard Jessie, associate minister at the 3000 12th Ave. church, said of Gamble. “She was one of the sweetest ladies we had in our church.”

He said he’d known Gamble all his life, having grown up in the area of 19th Street near Third and Fourth Avenue, where she once lived. Children in that neighborhood attended Claflin School back then, before their families migrated out of the area in the 1960s, he said.

Gamble had at least two daughters and a son, he said, adding her husband died in the 1980s.

“This family’s one of the pillars of our church,” Jessie said.

This story was originally published November 28, 2016 at 5:00 PM with the headline "Columbus police seek 83-year-old widow’s car after her Monday homicide."