“I tried to open the door, but someone locked it from inside,” says Sheriff’s Deputy Christopher Robbins of first arriving to Dent County Commons Jan. 7. Emergency responders had been alerted minutes earlier a Dodge Dynamax motorhome was found parked and running with a tube connecting its tailpipe into the interior of the vehicle.
“I couldn’t see inside because blankets had been shoved up into the windows and the curtains had been pulled around,” Robbins says. “At that point I decided to pull my baton out and smash the passenger side window so I could enter the vehicle. After hitting the unlock button I went inside, pulled the curtain around and could see a male lying in an unnatural position with his arms curled in.”
Robbins says that first glance was painful.
“There were heavy, heavy fumes inside and my eyes started watering,” he says. “I couldn’t breath and had to exit. I actually ended up having a migraine the rest of the day.”
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Once the motorhome was vented of exhaust, Dale Gabrovic, 64, was found dead lying next to a suicide note. As responding coroners inspected the scene, they discovered the bunched-up blanket next to him hid the mummified remains of Judy Mulkey, 72.
Over the following weeks Gabrovic’s death was confirmed a suicide resulting from carbon monoxide poisoning. What killed Mulkey remains a mystery.
Family members of both individuals have not returned messages from The Salem News requesting interviews. The details included in this report are based on files released to The Salem News from the Dent County Sheriff’s Office and Dent County Coroner’s Office, as well as public records and interviews with those who worked the case.
What’s been learned is Gabrovic and Mulkey departed California for what would be their last road trip Oct. 1, 2019. They were married two weeks later in Texas. Over the next three months the motorhome traveled more than 13,000 miles crisscrossing the country before its last stop at Dent County Commons.
Investigators have faced many questions in the wake of Gabrovic and Mulkey being found dead. They include how Mulkey died, where her death occurred and the reason it wasn’t reported. Others arising from the case are why Gabrovic seemingly drove for weeks with a dead body in his motorhome and ultimately why he picked Salem for his suicide.
The Bodies
Dent County Coroner Gina White and deputy coroner Ben Pursifull were the first to discover Judy Mulkey’s remains Jan. 7.
“Where he was laying in the bed it looked like he was sleeping and had flung the blankets over,” Pursifull says. “We didn’t think anything of it, but as we were preparing to remove the body, we looked a little closer and saw there was something else underneath the blanket next to him. That’s where we found Judith.”
Pursifull says it was immediately apparent Mulkey had been dead for weeks.
“I have worked a bunch of suicides, several unnatural accidental deaths and a handful of homicides over the years. I know what to expect, but in that moment, my only thought was ‘What?’” Pursifull says. “When I say her body appeared mummified, I am not talking about what the Egyptians did. None of her organs were removed. I am talking about a state of decay to where the skin was like leather. It was dehydrated and looked like what you would expect to see if a mummy were unwrapped.”
Following the discovery, autopsies of Gabrovic and Mulkey were completed at the Boone County Medical Examiner’s Office. Pursifull reports the results determined Gabrovic died of carbon monoxide poisoning less than 24 hours before being found. Due to her state of decay, Pursifull says a ruling for Mulkey was more difficult. The narrowest estimate provided by a forensic anthropologist was Mulkey died somewhere between three to nine weeks before she was discovered. Pursifull adds the advanced decomposition required dental records to positively confirm her identity.
Conclusions of the autopsies include that no physical trauma such as wounds or broken bones were found with either Gabrovic or Mulkey. The only drug found in Mulkey’s system was Benadryl. Gabrovic died sober minded.
Mulkey was also found to have advanced coronary disease, meaning she had some blockages in her heart. Pursifull adds based on additional evidence he learned she may have also had dementia.
“One thing we can’t rule out is she could have died from asphyxia from somebody smothering her, but due to the state of decay of the body, we were prevented from doing that,” Pursifull says.
The decayed state of Mulkey’s remains mixed with the tidy conditions of the motorhome further posed a mystery for investigators.
“I can say for sure that two things didn’t happen. One is that she didn’t die in the position she was found in, or in the location she was found,” Pursifull says. “The way a body decomposes is after a certain point the body bloats and purges fluid. In the camper where she was found, there was no evidence of that happening. There are two beds in that camper, and when I looked for evidence she died in either one, I couldn’t find any. I didn’t see evidence of the body being kept in the camper for any length of time. There are no traces of body fluid outside the immediate area she was found. But I can’t rule out he may have disposed of items or cleaned things up.”
Pursifull says in addition to evidence Gabrovic was moving Mulkey’s body, the outfit she was found wearing indicated Gabrovic had other post-mortem interactions with her remains.
“One of the things we could see is the clothing she was wearing was not saturated with decomposition fluids, so at some point the clothing had to have been changed. Whether that occurred multiple times or just once I do not know,” Pursifull says. “It’s not just the strangest case in all the years I’ve done this, and all the years for the people with the sheriff’s department, but also for the Boone County Medical Examiner’s Office – which does autopsies for a big portion of this state. For them to say this is something they’ve never seen before, that puts this in prospective and makes you shake your head.”
Judy and Dale
Before being found dead in the motorhome, Judy Mulkey lived most her life in South Carolina working as a literature teacher. She was married to Frank Mulkey from 1977 until his death in 2009. He was founder of his own real estate company and sold property near the couple’s home in the Yacht Cove neighborhood of the greater Columbia area of South Carolina. The two also owned a country house in the Appalachian Mountains outside Bryson City, North Carolina.
Frank’s obituary details he and his wife were active members of Columbia’s Riverland Hills Baptist Church and supported The Gideons’ mission to distribute Bibles. Judy also kept two binders filled with letters and pictures of the dozens of kids she’d supported through the Save the Children charity.
Those who knew Judy tell investigators after Frank’s death she became lonely and depressed. They report sometime later a contractor, Dale Gabrovic, did some repairs to her home. From that first meeting the two began a relationship which continued until their deaths.
The Salem News was not able to confirm much information about Gabrovic’s origins. In some instances, Gabrovic listed his home as the same addresses where Mulkey lived. Sometimes he listed his home as Sioux Falls, South Dakota. That address is tied to a mailing service used by travelers living in motorhomes. Staff with that mailing service tell The Salem News all they knew of Gabrovic was he was friendly when communicating via telephone and had been a client for several years.
Tax records in South Carolina list Gabrovic as owning property around Columbia. Law enforcement agencies from the jurisdictions where Gabrovic lived report they could not locate any records that Gabrovic was ever charged with a crime or arrested. Online business entries connected to Gabrovic show he worked for some construction companies in North Carolina and South Carolina while also registering a home repair business in his own name.
One of the defining aspects of Gabrovic and Mulkey’s relationship was travel and leisure. Among the records found after their deaths are receipts for buying the motorhome and selling a jet ski, golf score cards and tickets from visiting various attractions. For the last years of their lives they drove their motorhome across the United States visiting national parks and documenting the trips with photos and entries into a daily camper’s log.
After years of living together, Gabrovic and Mulkey were married Oct. 15, 2019, during a small ceremony at the Nueces County Courthouse in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Bea Molina, the administrative supervisor for Judge Henry A. Santana, is one of the last people known to have seen and spoken with both Gabrovic and Mulkey. In fact, Molina took photos of their wedding using the couple’s camera and joined them for what turned out to be the last known photo of them ever taken.
“They made a very strong impression, and I remember their marriage well,” Molina tells The Salem News. “They were happy and healthy and appeared to be very much in love. They said they had each lost a spouse, and they met each other online using OurTime.”
OurTime is an online dating website catering to older adults. Molina, herself a widow, said she spoke at length with Judy about the burden of losing a husband and the importance of keeping their faith. She adds that Gabrovic provided her with advice on how to date online and what to do when arranging a first meeting.
“We were all moved by them,” Molina says. “I remember there wasn’t a dry eye here when they left.”
As a final gesture, Molina says the newlyweds returned after their initial departure to present her with a rose from Judy’s bouquet.
“He said ‘love comes again,’” Molina says. “It meant a lot to me. I can’t remember anyone else doing something so thoughtful after helping marry them.”
The Relationship
A 2009 flyer recovered as evidence after their deaths may indicate what spurred Mulkey and Gabrovic’s first introduction. Its message is written by South Carolina Rev. J. William Powell and professes Gabrovic is an experienced home builder willing to volunteer labor for the community “to be a blessing to others and to glorify God.”
The flyer also prominently cites the passage Micah 6:8 from the Bible. Dozens of copies were found printed in different colors as if for mass distribution. An obituary reports Rev. Powell has since passed away. His widow tells The Salem News she recalled Gabrovic volunteering for a time, but he eventually moved away from their area.
A copy of a 2012 lease agreement signed by Gabrovic and Mulkey shows she acted as his landlord for a period at a South Carolina property. A half-shredded, hand-written receipt written by Mulkey also purports her intent to later sell a South Carolina property to Gabrovic. It is dated Feb. 21, 2016. The page is shredded so that the financial arrangement is destroyed, but Mulkey’s signature remains. Bank records additionally show Mulkey wrote checks to Gabrovic worth thousands of dollars.
Digital records recovered from the couple’s laptop after their deaths display both an idyllic image of their lives together as well as a darker side to their relationship.
Some pictures show the two smiling, hugging and kissing one another in picturesque settings. There are also videos of the two visiting different attractions or sharing a laugh while watching wild animals.
Conversely, some photographs show a series of hand-written letters from 2016 that are signed by Mulkey and state she was wrong to have broken up with Gabrovic and regrets what she’d led others to believe about him. They all contain the similar phrasing, such as Mulkey saying Gabrovic “takes good care of me” and Mulkey wanting to “move in a way God wants me to go.”
Some videos Gabrovic recorded of Mulkey appear to show him urging her to apologize or say she was wrong on camera.
A 27-minute long voice memo recording uncovered by The Salem News further captures a raw, unfiltered conversation between Mulkey and Gabrovic. It is the only file of its kind found and was recorded Oct. 5, 2017.
Mulkey’s voice is louder and closer to the microphone in the recording, while Gabrovic’s voice is distant and mumbled, indicating she may have secretly initiated the recorder.
In the conversation, Mulkey and Gabrovic talk about breaking up with one another. As they continue, Gabrovic becomes increasingly manic and dominate. He accuses Mulkey of trying to make him “look nuts” and later berates her for once letting his cat run away and for also not following through with his multiple marriage proposals.
Over a meandering 20-minute monologue, Gabrovic gradually accuses Mulkey of being a “snitch” and working with the FBI to “set him up.” Gabrovic never states what he may be guilty of in the recording. He also expresses concern their RV may be filled with cameras and microphones.
The recording ends abruptly with Gabrovic saying, “Do you feel like you stepped on a landmine,” and “I doubt you’re real worried.”
