MADISON COUNTY, Ala. (WHNT) — The man convicted of persuading his friend to kill his mother over 30 years ago is set for a parole hearing on August 3.
Charles Wayne Gordon, 54, was only 19 when online court records say his mother, Mary Gordon, was stabbed to death in her home after Gordon convinced his friend that they would split the inheritance.
A criminal appeal says that on April 22, 1988, Mary Gordon was returning home while 17-year-old David Eickholt, was “waiting for her with a knife.” Records say he lunged at her and stabbed her “at least 10 times,” and three of those wounds could have caused her death.
One of Mary Gordon’s neighbors had seen her walking to her apartment and heard her screams not long after she was inside, the appeal stated. That neighbor ran into Mary Gordon’s apartment and reportedly said that he “saw David Eickholt standing over her body with a knife.”
When Eickholt noticed the neighbor, records say he stabbed them before dropping the knife and running away.
According to Eickholt’s testimony, Charles told him that “his mother had cancer and was going to die anyway,” adding that Charles “played on his sympathy.” The two allegedly went on discussing “the best way” to kill Mary Gordon before hatching a plan.
That plan, the appeal said, was for Charles to give David a key to his mother’s apartment, where he would wait for her behind the door with a knife from her kitchen. A knife was their weapon of choice “because it was quieter than a gun.”
Records say that Charles promised to pay David back by providing a vehicle, paying for his education and an “indefinite amount of pecuniary remuneration in the future.”
During an interview, Charles said he called David, saying, “Are you going to do it tomorrow?” David replied, “Well, how? …I’ve got to work 10:00 to 7:00.”
Charles: “I laughed.” David retorted, “You don’t think I’m going to do it.” Charles answered, “We’ll see.” Charles told the interviewers “…I sort of prodded him like ‘You ain’t going to do it,'”
Throughout that interview, Charles details how he came home from work and made a sandwich when his mother called. “I had just called David,” he said. “I was talking to David when she called, and we talked for a couple of minutes.”
According to the appeal, Charles said in the interview, “That was the last time I spoke to her. I told her I loved her and then I flipped back over and David said, `Was that your mom?’ And I said, `Yes.’ He said, `I guess you told her you loved her.’ I said, `Yes.’ And he laughed and he said, `I can’t believe you.'”
In the end, Eickholt pleaded guilty to murder and first-degree assault. He was sentenced to life on the murder charge and an additional 20 years for the assault charge.
Charles Gordon was convicted of capital murder and assault. He was initially sentenced to life without parole in prison on the murder conviction and to 20 years imprisonment for the assault, but court documents filed in 1992 show he was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole after pleading guilty.
He has now served just over 35 years in the Alabama prison system.
