Keith Gardner

Timeline

• May 11, 1999 — Police found the bodies of Keith Gardner’s parents, Jimmy Wayne and Jannis Gardner, and his grandfather, Elmer, sealed in an underground World War II-era bomb shelter behind the family home.
• May 11, 1999 — A Fairfax County grand jury indicted Keith J. Gardner on three counts of first-degree murder in the stabbing deaths of his parents and grandfather at their Lorton home.
• September 8, 1999 — Keith J. Gardner pleaded guilty to murdering his parents and grandfather.
• Aug. 4, 1999 — Keith Gardner’s wife, Michelle Yi Gardner, turned herself in after she was charged in Alexandria with an April carjacking.
• December 10, 1999 — Keith J. Gardner was sentenced to three life terms in prison.
• December 11, 1999 — A letter from Keith J. Gardner to Circuit Court Judge Marcus D. Williams stated: "Due to very heavy drug usage, I was completely out of my mind and out of control."
• Spring 1984 — Keith Gardner was picked up in Texas and wrote a letter to the judge seeking leniency.
• 1984 — Keith Gardner was sentenced to nine more months in jail.
• 1986 — Keith Gardner was arrested again and charged with eight burglaries and received a two-year prison term.
• 1994 — Keith Gardner got out of prison and moved his probation to Florida.
• 1960 — Keith Gardner’s father, Jimmy Gardner, was transferred to Virginia and began working on the presidential helicopter at Davison Army Airfield on Fort Belvoir.
• 1964 — After Jimmy Gardner resigned from the Army, he and his wife went into the fabric business.

Background

Keith J. Gardner was 39 and was of Fairfax, Virginia. He was arrested by sheriff’s deputies in Penascola, Florida, for a probation violation at a hotel parking lot along U.S. Highway 29.

Gardner had been wanted since May 11, when police found the bodies of his parents, Jimmy Wayne and Jannis Gardner, and his grandfather, Elmer, sealed in an underground World War II-era bomb shelter behind the family home.

Keith Gardner and his wife, Michelle Yi Gardner, 19, lived in the house during the period after the stabbings. They vanished only after neighbors grew worried and discovered the bodies on May 11.

Gardner was being held without bond at the county jail after his arrest and return to Fairfax County. Police and prosecutors had not suggested a motive in the slayings.

Prosecutors would not seek the death penalty against Gardner. Commonwealth’s Attorney Robert F. Horan Jr. said he declined to explain why.

Gardner had nine felony convictions and faced a minimum of 20 years in prison and a maximum of life without parole if convicted. At sentencing, he received three life terms.

The offence

Gardner was indicted on three counts of first-degree murder in the stabbing deaths of his parents and grandfather at their Lorton home in May.

Police believed Jannis Gardner, 63, Jimmy Gardner, 64, and Elmer Gardner, 90, were stabbed to death in their bedrooms. Police believed the victims were then dragged to a backyard fallout shelter where their bodies were covered in limestone and remained for more than a week.

He admitted stabbing his mother, father and grandfather to death in their beds in May.

Gardner declined to explain his actions when he stood before Fairfax County Circuit Judge Marcus D. Williams.

Investigation

Police found the bodies of Gardner’s parents and grandfather sealed in an underground World War II-era bomb shelter behind the family home.

Gardner and his wife vanished only after neighbors grew worried and discovered the bodies on May 11. Gardner’s arrest followed three weeks later in Pensacola, Florida, and he was returned to Fairfax County.

Friends and neighbors described the Gardners as a family that had experienced many triumphs but had struggled to help the younger son, Keith, through years of problems with drugs.

After the deaths, police said Gardner was spotted in the District buying drugs.

Arrest

Keith Gardner was arrested three weeks after May 11 in Pensacola, Florida, and returned to Fairfax County. His wife disappeared at the time of his arrest but turned herself in on Aug. 4 after she was charged in Alexandria with an April carjacking.

Sheriff’s spokeswoman Lisa Lagergren said Gardner was arrested for a probation violation at a hotel parking lot along U.S. Highway 29.

Trial

A Fairfax County grand jury indicted Keith J. Gardner on three counts of first-degree murder in the stabbing deaths of his parents and grandfather at their Lorton home in May.

Sentencing

On December 10, 1999, Gardner was sentenced to three life terms in prison.

At sentencing, Gardner declined to explain his actions as he stood before Circuit Court Judge Marcus D. Williams.

In a letter to the judge, Gardner wrote: "Due to very heavy drug usage, I was completely out of my mind and out of control."

Appeals

No appeal information was provided.

Outcome

Gardner pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three life terms in prison.

Prosecutors did not seek the death penalty.

Aftermath

Gardner’s wife, Michelle Yi Gardner, turned herself in on Aug.

Police said Gardner was spotted in the District buying drugs after his parents’ deaths.

Other details

Family and relationships

• Keith Gardner’s parents were Jimmy Wayne Gardner (64) and Jannis Gardner (63).
• Gardner’s grandfather was Elmer Gardner (90).
• Gardner’s wife was Michelle Yi Gardner (19).
• Gardner’s older son was Kim Gardner (45 at the time of the quoted remarks).
• Family friends included Joe and Dianne Piatt and Dick and Irene Gilroy.

Prior criminal history and substance use

Keith Gardner had been arrested and charged with stealing and burglary less than a year after graduating from Hayfield High School, and was sentenced to six months in jail and two years’ probation.

He violated probation and headed to Texas for nearly three years. After he was picked up in Texas in spring 1984, he wrote a letter to the judge seeking leniency: "I now recognize my mistakes and I am ready to change my way of life," Keith Gardner stated. "My parents would be glad to have me move in with them upon my release. All I need is one more chance to prove myself and I guarantee you I will become a perfect citizen of Fairfax Co."

He was sentenced to nine more months in jail after that letter. In 1986, he was arrested again and charged with eight burglaries and received a two-year prison term.

Not long after his release, he was arrested on drug charges and received an eight-year term.

Keith Gardner got out of prison in 1994 and moved his probation to Florida. He asked for his parents’ help to kick his addiction to Dilaudid, a synthetic narcotic, and moved in to give his parents the keys to his truck to help him avoid temptation to go out in search of drugs.

Kim Gardner said: "He wanted to go to Arkansas to get away from it all." Kim Gardner also said: "He wouldn’t know where to get drugs." Kim Gardner said his parents owned a dozen rental houses in Arkansas.

Police believed his old haunts and habits were tempting him.

Statements and quotes from other individuals

Dick Gilroy said of Jimmy Gardner: "He was always helping people." and "If you were in a bind, he'd be there in a minute." Joe Piatt said he once needed money immediately to pay for the burial of his father, and Jimmy Gardner "wrote a check right there."

Kim Gardner said: "She was the one people came in to see, the one people fell in love with," referring to Jannis Gardner.

Kim Gardner also said: "He wanted to go to Arkansas to get away from it all."

Joe Piatt said: "He wasn't a bad kid," and "He just did stupid things. He wanted what he wanted now. He wasn't willing to work for it."

Dianne Piatt said: "He kind of got in with the wrong crowd in high school," and she said: "He wasn't interested in college, which disappointed his father."

Dianne Piatt said: "It hurt Jannis and Jim very deeply," and she said, "but they never turned their back on him." This was said about Jannis Gardner visiting Keith Gardner nearly every weekend.

Employment and background details involving Jimmy and Jannis Gardner

Jimmy Gardner enlisted in the Army and learned to work on helicopters.

Jimmy Gardner was transferred to Virginia in 1960 and began working on the presidential helicopter at Davison Army Airfield on Fort Belvoir.

After Jimmy Gardner resigned from the Army in 1964, he and his wife went into the fabric business. They opened a store called "House of Jannis" in the Woodlawn Shopping Center on Richmond Highway, then added stores in Woodbridge, Manassas, and Springfield, before moving to Maryland in Riverdale and Silver Spring.

The stores advertised on television, with Jannis Gardner as the spokeswoman. Jannis Gardner ran a custom drapery and upholstery business out of her house, fueled almost solely by word-of-mouth referrals.

The family had to sell its five-bedroom house in Harbor View on Belmont Bay in southern Fairfax County and moved to Lorton just north of Route 1, after the House of Jannis became a drain and stores closed.

Jimmy Gardner played golf two or three times a week, getting his score down into the upper 70s, Dick Gilroy said.