Overview
- Antonio Gladney, on parole and long involved with the justice system, arrived at Molly J. Gladney’s home on May 14, 2017, with flowers and a card before an argument turned violent.
- Reports say he struck his 66-year-old mother with a large garden tool, continued the assault with his fists, and left her in the carport where she died.
- Lee County Sheriff’s Office said the scene showed a struggle inside and outside the home, multiple traumatic injuries to the head and face, and likely use of more than one object.
- Police say he returned to the scene later that night, was arrested the next morning, and confessed four days later; in court he admitted the killing and said he was under the influence.
- While awaiting trial he brandished a shank at a corrections officer, later pleaded guilty to that assault, and received a life sentence with a 25-year minimum term.