Man pleads guilty to murder of 83-year-old Columbus woman

Angelo Short pleaded guilty to murder early Wednesday morning in Columbus Recorder’s Court in the fatal stabbing of 83-year-old Peggy Gamble, who was found dead Nov. 28 in her Eighth Street home.

Judge Michael Cielinski ordered Short, who didn’t testify or have an attorney present, held in the Muscogee County Jail without bond. The case was bound over to Superior Court.

Recorder’s Court judges only the authority to dismiss a murder case for lack of probable cause or bound it over to Superior Court. They do not have the authority to set a bond in a murder case.

Short’s court appearance comes days after he pleaded not guilty Dec. 1 to taking Gamble’s beige 1988 Toyota Corolla from her home following her death and obstructing police during his arrest.

During that hearing, he also pleaded not guilty robbery and aggravated assault charges related to a Piggly Wiggly robbery he allegedly committed the morning after a relative found Gamble’s body in her 2324 Eighth St. home.

Gamble was pronounced dead at 1:34 p.m. Nov. 28, but Muscogee County Coroner Buddy Bryan said it appears as if she was dead for eight to 10 hours before her body was discovered.

She was stabbed seven times, according to a preliminary autopsy report.

Authorities said they found evidence on the homicide scene that someone had broken into the victim’s home, where she had been living alone since 1993. Gamble’s Toyota, which her family said was normally parked under her carport, was missing from the residence, Detective Stewart Carter said during Thursday’s hearing.

Police listed Short as a person of interest in the case early on, adding that he was Gamble’s step-grandson. The victim’s family disputed that relationship with Short during the hearing, but a family member previously said Short is the stepson of Gamble’s older daughter, Miriam Short, who is married to Short’s father, Eddie.

Carter said witnesses spotted Short driving Gamble’s Toyota with an unidentified individual in the passenger seat the night Gamble was killed. Short was also seen in the car alone when he allegedly left the missing Toyota in the area of 10th Street the night of Nov. 28, three additional witnesses told authorities.

Police said Short robbed the Piggly Wiggly on Brown Avenue early Tuesday and they received numerous tips later that day informing them that he was sleeping in abandoned houses in the area of Coolidge Avenue.

Carter said officials couldn’t find Short at the exact location they were given, but they set up a perimeter and arrested him after he was found in an abandoned apartment on Lawyers Lane.

Short told police to kill him before using a crack pipe to smoke cocaine in front of them, then he continued to tell authorities to kill him, according to Carter.

Carter also said Short had to be subdued with a stun gun before he could be taken into custody.

This story was originally published December 7, 2016 at 8:52 AM with the headline "Man pleads guilty to murder of 83-year-old Columbus woman."