Family Needs Solution to Sharon Marie Gill’s Unsolved Murder

25 years and counting…
by Robert A. Waters

Unknown to forty-two-year-old Sharon Marie Gill, a two-man crime-wave lived just yards away from her new home in Deep Creek, Florida.  She and her husband, Percy, were missionaries who planned to retire in the Sunshine State.  Sharon and daughter Krista, 17, had moved south a few months ahead of Percy (who was still working in Detroit) to get their new house ready.

On the afternoon of Wednesday, March 21, 1990, the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office responded to a call from Krista.  The distraught teen sobbed into the phone that she’d returned home from school and found her mother dead.  A report from the sheriff’s office stated that “[Sharon Gill] was found partially nude, stabbed multiple times, lying in a pool of blood on the master bathroom floor of her residence.”  In addition to having sustained 38 stab wounds, Sharon had been brutally raped.

Investigators learned that she had been speaking on the phone with her travel agent when she heard a knock at the door.  Before hanging up, Sharon informed the agent that she thought landscapers had arrived.

A few yards behind the Gill home, another family of transplants resided.  Shawn Edward Malsky and his brother Scott hailed from Massachusetts—each had been in and out of trouble since their early teens.  In Florida alone, Shawn had been arrested 30 times.  In one case, he was convicted of injecting heroin into his girlfriend’s 4-year-old daughter.  According to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, “Malsky landed behind bars again Oct. 31 after he allegedly shot heroin into preschooler Rylee Nantell and put a lighted crack pipe in her mouth.  He reportedly told Rylee that smoking crack would give her energy, a sheriff’s report states.”  Shawn is currently serving out a 16 year sentence for that crime.  He had previously served prison time for crimes such as forgery, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, grand theft, and burglary.

Shawn Malsky is the older brother of Scott Christopher Malsky, who is currently serving a life sentence for raping and killing Pauline Farrington, an elderly Port Charlotte widow.  Scott was also convicted of abducting, raping, stabbing, and setting on fire a 14-year-old girl.  He is currently serving a life sentence for murder.

Immediately after Gill’s murder, investigators took a close look at the Malsky brothers, particularly Shawn.  He was arrested and charged with her murder.  However, after spending two years in jail awaiting trial, he was released.  Investigators cited a lack of evidence, although to this day they continue to view him as a suspect.

In November, 2014, WBBH TV reported that “Sharon [Gill], 42, was stabbed multiple times in her home on Rampart Blvd. in Deep Creek on March 21, 1990.

“One very strong suspect, Shawn Edward Malsky, was eventually arrested for this murder.

“Malsky was living in the same neighborhood with his grandparents at the time.  The charges were eventually dropped against Malsky because of an alibi.

“Cold Case detectives have recently discredited the alibi.  Detectives are currently re-examining all evidence and witness testimony.”

Although it’s been 25 years since Sharon Gill’s murder, the family still grieves her loss.  Family members have stated that DNA is available, but that no match has been made to any suspect.

If you have information about this case, please call the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office Cold Case Unit at 941-575-5361 or after hours call 941-639-2101, or email them at coldcase@ccso.org.