Sarra Gilbert's vicious murder of her mother, Mari Gilbert, came five years after her sister Shannan was found dead — possibly at the hands of the Long Island Serial Killer.
Warning: This article contains graphic descriptions and/or images of violent, disturbing, or otherwise potentially distressing events.
On July 23, 2016, police officers performing a welfare check at the home of 27-year-old Sarra Gilbert found her mother, Mari Gilbert, lying in a pool of blood and riddled with stab wounds. As soon as the officers walked into the apartment, Sarra told them, “I am under arrest.”
Ellenville Police DepartmentSarra Gilbert was convicted of second-degree murder for stabbing her mother 227 times.
Sarra suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, and voices in her head had been telling her that her mom was dangerous. So, when Mari stopped by to check on her that morning, Sarra attacked her with a kitchen knife and a fire extinguisher.
The gruesome murder was yet another tragedy in the series of hardships that had marked Sarra Gilbert’s life. She’d had a turbulent childhood and survived an abusive relationship as a teenager. Then, in 2010, her older sister, Shannan Gilbert, died under suspicious circumstances — and may have been the victim of a serial killer.
Sarra never truly recovered from the trauma of her sister’s death, and it likely sparked the mental health crisis that led her to kill her own mother.
The Troubled Life Of Sarra Gilbert
Sarra Gilbert was the third daughter of Mari Gilbert. Her father was addicted to heroin and suffered from schizophrenia himself, according to a 2017 report by the Daily Freeman.
Sarra’s childhood was turbulent from the beginning. She was in and out of foster care, and when she was living with her mother, she was molested by one of her boyfriends.
By the time Sarra was 14, she’d already had an abortion. At 16, she dropped out of high school and moved in with her drug-dealing older boyfriend.
She soon got pregnant again and gave birth to a son named Hayden in 2009. However, her relationship with Hayden’s father turned abusive, and Sarra spent some time in a domestic violence shelter.
Sarra’s family helped her with Hayden when they could, including her oldest sister, Shannan. But in May 2010, Shannan vanished under suspicious circumstances while working as an escort at a client’s house on Long Island. The investigation into her disappearance turned up the bodies of 10 murder victims, many of whom were also sex workers. At least four of them were tied to the Long Island Serial Killer.
Facebook/Praying for Shannan Maria GilbertShannan Gilbert vanished in May 2010, and her remains were found in December 2011.
Shannan’s body was found in December 2011. The police attributed her death to accidental drowning, but the Gilbert family was convinced that she’d been murdered, too.
Unfortunately, Sarra Gilbert’s hardships weren’t over yet.
How Schizophrenic Delusions Turned Deadly
The death of Shannan Gilbert seemingly resurfaced Sarra’s previous trauma. She began experiencing delusions. In 2013, she was watching the American Music Awards on television when she became convinced that she and Shannan had written some of the songs performed by Rihanna, Beyoncé, and Jay-Z.
Then, Sarra started believing that her loved ones were possessed by demons. She thought she was a god who had to defeat the “evil gods” surrounding her. In January 2014, she was visiting her mother and her older sister, Sherre, when she lashed out at them because she thought they were both demons.
Sarra had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder when she was 12, but after Shannan’s death, she was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, as well. She spent several years in and out of mental health facilities, and her doctors finally discovered a medication that kept her stable.
Things seemed to be looking up for Sarra Gilbert — but then she stopped taking her medicine and started using drugs like marijuana and ecstasy.
On Feb. 19, 2016, Sarra drowned her puppy in a bathtub in front of her son because she thought it was the rapper Eminem and it wanted to harm her. Mari Gilbert reported Sarra to the police and was awarded temporary custody of Hayden.
Sarra’s younger sister, Stevie, is convinced this incident is what sparked Sarra’s desire to kill Mari. During Sarra’s trial, Stevie read a letter in court that referred to Sarra as “wicked,” as reported by inTouch in 2017. “[The murder] was not a result of mental illness,” Stevie wrote. “This was the result of long-term hate and not a mental breakdown.”
However, Sarra’s attorneys argued that the events of July 23, 2016, stemmed solely from Sarra’s schizophrenia.
The Brutal Murder Of Mari Gilbert
On the morning of Mari Gilbert’s murder, Sarra texted her sister Sherre and told her that she was hearing voices. Then, Sarra called Mari, who rushed to her apartment in Ellenville, New York. She arrived around 10:30 a.m. and sat on the couch next to Sarra.
Unbeknownst to Mari, however, Sarra had concealed a kitchen knife beneath a throw pillow — and she suddenly pulled it out and started stabbing Mari in the chest. Mari tried to fight back, but Sarra sat on top of her and continued her violent assault. She plunged the knife into her so viciously that the blade bent and the tip broke off.
Tribune Content Agency LLC / Alamy Stock PhotoMari Gilbert in 2011.
After stabbing Mari hundreds of times, Sarra grabbed a fire extinguisher and bashed her mother in the head and face before spraying foam from the device in her mouth. After she was sure Mari was dead, Sarra smoked a cigarette and listened to music.
When Sherre couldn’t get in touch with Mari later that morning, she called the police and asked them to carry out a welfare check at Sarra’s apartment. According to court documents, Sarra knew the officers were going to see Mari’s body when they arrived, so she “got up… went down the hallway… felt that her jogging pants had soaked up too much of the blood… so she shed them… [and] went to the bathroom where she washed her hands and sat in the bathtub.”
After seeing the scene, the police immediately arrested Sarra Gilbert and charged her with Mari Gilbert’s murder.
Sarra Gilbert’s Trial And Conviction For Mari Gilbert’s Murder
At trial, Sarra’s attorneys decided to invoke the insanity defense. “This was not a killing of rage,” said defense attorney John Ray, “There’s a madness in this that no ordinary human being suffers.”
It was revealed that Sarra hadn’t taken her medication for nearly two months before she stabbed her mother 227 times. “Does that sound like something that somebody is responsible for?” Ray asked the court. “If you think that, I guess you can think anything.”
However, Sarra’s own words on the witness stand harmed her chances of a successful defense. “My intention was to kill my mom,” she said. “She’s evil.”
Facebook/Praying for Shannan Maria GilbertMari Gilbert and Sarra Gilbert at a vigil for Shannan Gilbert in 2011.
Ultimately, Sarra Gilbert was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. She appealed the ruling, but in 2021, that appeal was denied.
As reported by Long Island Press at the time, the appeals panel wrote, “We have no doubt the defendant suffers from a debilitating mental illness that blurs the lines of fiction and reality, and we are certainly sympathetic to the difficult life circumstances she has endured. The proof, however, reasonably supports the jury’s finding that, at the time of the killing, defendant had the substantial capacity to know and appreciate both the nature and consequences of her conduct and that such conduct was wrong.”
Sarra Gilbert, meanwhile, seemingly regrets her vicious actions despite her belief that her mother was evil. “I love my family,” she said shortly after the 2016 attack, “and I’m very sorry for what I’ve done.”
After reading about the life and crimes of Sarra Gilbert, learn about Isabella Guzman, the teen who stabbed her mother 79 times and went viral on TikTok for her courtroom antics. Then, go inside the story of Cleo Rose Elliott, the daughter of Sam Elliott and Katharine Ross who attacked her mom with scissors in 2011.
