Man who murdered girlfriend after robbing Alabama hotel kills himself in police standoff

The man suspected of murdering his 18-year-old girlfriend after they robbed an Alabama hotel at gunpoint killed himself in a police standoff in Wisconsin.  

Gary Eubanks Jr, 25, died of a self-inflicted gunshot to the head after four hours of negotiations with officers who cornered him at a residence in Milwaukee at around 4pm Wednesday, authorities announced Thursday.

Police confirmed that Eubanks Jr was responsible for the murder of Mississippi teen Baylee Wall, whose body was found in Cincinnati, Ohio, on October 23. 

Eubanks Jr had been on the run for 10 days after he allegedly forced Wall to help him rob the Microtel Inn in Daphne, Alabama, on October 21. 

 

Gary Eubanks Jr, 25, (pictured) died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after four hours of negotiations with police in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, authorities announced Thursday 

Police confirmed that Eubanks Jr was responsible for the murder of Mississippi teen Baylee Wall (pictured), whose body was found in Cincinnati, Ohio, on October 23

Police confirmed that Eubanks Jr was responsible for the murder of Mississippi teen Baylee Wall (pictured), whose body was found in Cincinnati, Ohio, on October 23 

Authorities located Eubanks Jr at the residence in Wisconsin at around 4pm Wednesday

Authorities located Eubanks Jr at the residence in Wisconsin at around 4pm Wednesday

Police initially did not confirm the identity of the man killed in Wednesday’s standoff, saying only that he had committed ‘very serious, heinous crimes’ and was wanted in Alabama and Ohio. 

News outlets were quick to assume that it was Eubanks Jr, of Theodore, Alabama. The confirmation came in Thursday morning.  

Authorities had been hunting Eubanks Jr for over a week after the hotel heist. 

Surveillance video showed Wall entering the hotel on the night of the armed robbery and asking the receptionist about room rates before leaving. 

Eubanks Jr was seen walking in to the lobby moments after Wall left. He held the receptionist at gunpoint and demanded cash.  

The pair fled the scene in Wall’s 2015 black four-door Volkswagen Passat with license plate JGE1791.

Two days after the robbery, Wall’s body was found behind a baseball field at Woodward High School in Cincinnati. 

She wasn’t identified as the victim until five days later because there wasn’t any official form of identification on her body. 

Police described her death as ‘suspicious’ and said it was being investigated as a homicide. 

Detectives have not confirmed the cause of death, but sources told WLWT she was shot in the head.   

Investigators said Wall entered the hotel on the night of October 21 to ask about room rates and then left, as seen on surveillance footage

Eubanks was seen entering the hotel after Baylee and holding the receptionist at gunpoint

Police said surveillance footage showed Wall and Eubanks Jr at the Microtel Inn in Daphne, Alabama, on the night of the October 21 armed robbery

Wall allegedly entered the hotel and asked the receptionist about room rates and then left before Eubanks Jr came in and demanded money at gunpoint

Wall allegedly entered the hotel and asked the receptionist about room rates and then left before Eubanks Jr came in and demanded money at gunpoint 

Wall is seen in a driver's license photo released by police

Gary Eubanks, Jr, 25

Wall and Eubanks Jr are seen in driver’s license photos released after the armed robbery  

Loved ones have fiercely defended Wall in the days since police announced they were investigating her death as a homicide on Monday – charging that Eubanks Jr compelled her to commit the armed robbery reminiscent of infamous crime couple Bonnie and Clyde. 

‘There is no way that she willingly participated in any of those events, and we have proof that that is the case,’ Wall’s stepmother, Angela Wall, told AL.com. 

‘I wish we could have seen the signs before it was too late.’ 

She said Eubanks Jr was ‘abusive’ and ‘not right for Baylee’, and that he lied to her and her family about his age, claiming he was only 19.   

Loved ones have fiercely defended Wall in the days since police announced they were investigating her death as a homicide on Monday - charging that Eubanks Jr compelled her to commit the armed robbery. The teen from Mississippi is pictured with her two-year-old daughter

Loved ones have fiercely defended Wall in the days since police announced they were investigating her death as a homicide on Monday – charging that Eubanks Jr compelled her to commit the armed robbery. The teen from Mississippi is pictured with her two-year-old daughter

Wall's relatives described her as 'just your typical 18-year-old girl' and said they couldn't believe she would willingly be involved with an armed robbery

Wall’s relatives described her as ‘just your typical 18-year-old girl’ and said they couldn’t believe she would willingly be involved with an armed robbery

Wall’s stepfather, Steven Tillman, told Fox Cincinnati that she and Eubanks Jr began dating in August and that she had recently sent a photo to her friend showing her with a busted lip.

Tillman said that his stepdaughter told the friend she was ‘scared [and] wanting to come home’.  

He expressed shock over the idea that Wall, who lived in Moss Point, Mississippi and was the mother of a two-year-old girl, would be involved with someone violent and that she would participate in an armed robbery.  

‘I still can’t believe it. I really can’t on either issue,’ Tillman said. ‘That’s not how she was raised. That’s not how she was.’ 

He added: ‘She was a very outgoing person. Loved to laugh and you know, just your typical 18-year-old girl.’ 

A woman named Erin Vinson claimed that the couple had been staying at her apartment before Wall’s death. 

‘If I had any idea she was going to be murdered two weeks later, I would have never let her out of my sight,’ Vinson told Local12.

She said that Wall told her that Eubanks Jr had been violent to her.

‘We knew it was unhealthy, but obviously what can you do to someone who is 18 years old to say go back home to your parents who care about you,’ she said. 

‘Now I feel like I have some responsibility in the fact that I was the last person to see her and that I could have potentially saved her from that situation.’ 

On Wednesday evening, Wall’s aunt, Susan Speaker, announced Eubanks Jr’s death on Facebook. 

‘Justice for Baylee is served!’ she wrote in all-caps. 

Another relative, Amber Wall, posted: ‘Praise God they got him!’ 

On Wednesday night, Wall's aunt, Susan Speaker, announced Eubanks Jr's death on Facebook

On Wednesday night, Wall’s aunt, Susan Speaker, announced Eubanks Jr’s death on Facebook

Another relative, Amber Wall, posted: 'Praise God they got him!'

Another relative, Amber Wall, posted: ‘Praise God they got him!’

Baylee's stepmother Angela Wall hit out at trolls attacking the teen in a Facebook post Monday (pictured) as news emerged that she had been murdered

Baylee’s stepmother Angela Wall hit out at trolls attacking the teen in a Facebook post Monday (pictured) as news emerged that she had been murdered 

Hours after news of Baylee’s death broke on Monday, her stepmother spoke out against trolls she said had been spamming the teen’s Facebook page.  

‘So it’s already starting with rude/negative comments. People are going to judge her for one stupid act that we don’t even know the full details of,’ Angela Wall wrote in a Facebook post. 

‘Regardless, she was only 18 and still our daughter. So please everyone share something positive about Baylee Wall so people remember her how she really was, and for all the stalkers coming to her page can see she was truly loving person and was loved. 

‘Baylee was always a fighter and hard headed but that is what got her through all of this. 

We love you BayBay and will forever be in our hearts.’ 

Angela included a pair of photos of Baylee, one ‘first day of school’ snap and another from her high school graduation day. 

In a later post, the stepmother shared a link to a GoFundMe campaign set up by Baylee’s uncle, Tim Wall, to help cover funeral costs. 

The campaign has raised more than $2,180 toward its $5,000 goal as of Thursday morning. 

Icons of the ‘Public Enemies’ era: The story of Bonnie and Clyde

The duo met in Texas in 1930 and are believed to have committed 13 murders and several robberies and burglaries by the time they died.

Bonnie (left) and Clyde met in Texas in 1930 and are believed to have committed 13 murders and several robberies and burglaries by the time they died

Bonnie (left) and Clyde met in Texas in 1930 and are believed to have committed 13 murders and several robberies and burglaries by the time they died

They became infamous as they traveled across America’s Midwest and South, holding up banks and stores with other gang members.

The public were enamoured by the lovestruck pair during the Public Enemies era during the Great Depression in America.

After evading the cops countless times, their luck ran out on Highway 54 in Louisiana, when they were ambushed by officers who fired 107 rounds of bullets in less than two minutes.

At 9.15am on May 23, 1934, the two small-time Depression-era bank robbers died on a lonely road outside of Gibsland.

They were killed by a 16-second hail of 107 automatic rifle and shotgun rounds, fired at their Ford V8 sedan.

Immortalized in Arthur Penn’s classic 1967 film, in which they were played by Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty, the pair the American press called ‘Romeo & Juliet In A Getaway Car’ earned themselves a place in the criminal hall of fame – joining infamous mobsters such as Pretty Boy Floyd, John Dillinger and Baby Face Nelson.

But the true story of Bonnie and Clyde is very different from the Hollywood fantasy.

On the day of their demise, Clyde, who was just 25, was driving along in his socks, while Bonnie was eating a sandwich in the passenger seat.

Near Gibsland, they stopped to greet the father of one of their gang members – but it was a trap.

A six-man posse of Texas and Louisiana troopers was waiting to ambush them and opened fire.

No warnings were issued and the couple were given no opportunity to surrender. Clyde died instantly – the first shot took off the top of his head.

But Bonnie was only wounded and began screaming – a scream so terrible that their principal pursuer, former Texas Ranger Frank Hamer, fired two more shots into the defenceless 23-year-old at close range.

Their bodies were riddled with 50 bullets each, even though Bonnie Parker had never been charged with a capital offence.

 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk