Gina Murphy of Williamstown, has been charged with murder in the shooting death of her ex-husband Daniel on August 20, 2012.
That night, Gina Murphy called 911 from the Murphys’ home on the 400 block of E. Market St.
According to court documents, Murphy told the operator that she’d shot her live-in ex-husband in the chest and later told investigators it was in self-defense.
Dauphin County District Attorney Ed Marsico said it was all planned.
“It was a different type of case, we have someone staging a crime scene, and contending they acted in self-defense,” Marsico said. “That’s a sophisticated criminal.”
Murphy told investigators that she and her ex-husband got into an argument earlier that day and when she came home that night, he lunged at her with a knife and cleaver.
Assistant District Attorney Fran Chardo said DNA evidence taken from the scene does not support that story.
“Her fingerprints from both hands are on the knife,” he said. “And so our theory in the case moving forward, is that she shot him when he was not armed, and then placed the knife next to the body of Mr. Murphy.”
The case has been the talk of the small town since August and with the grand jury presentment just released, sordid details of the Murphys’ lives together have come to light.
“Mrs. Murphy had been having sexual relations with a number of men in this community, and that may have been the catalyst for the final, fatal encounter,” Chardo said.
In another possible motive, Chardo said the Murphys falsely represented themselves as still married to avoid paying taxes in transferring their home to their names. In the event of Daniel Murphy’s death, ownership of the house would go to Gina.