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44 °F Forecast | Road Cams Monday, February 23, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find a Rental Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Email Story to a Friend February 12, 2004 Victim’s parents dispute suicide Murder trial of Gary Repp Jr. enters its eighth day By SARAH LEMON Mail Tribune A letter sent from Kerry Repp’s e-mail account on the day of her death lamented her bad habits, mistakes and the pain she had caused her husband, who is now on trial for her murder. But Kerry Repp’s parents testified Wednesday that they knew at first glance that their 29-year-old daughter did not write the message. The content, voice and vocabulary smacked of their daughter’s husband, Gary Marvin Repp Jr. "The tone of it was just the way Gary was — building himself up and tearing her down," said Kerry Repp’s mother, JoeAnn Johnson. Gary Repp’s murder trial began Feb. 3 in Jackson County Circuit Court before Judge Lorenzo Mejia. Johnson received the e-mail on May 5, 2002, one day after her husband, Ron, found their daughter dead in the master bedroom of her Central Point home. She was shot four times with a handgun that police found clasped in her hand. There was an apparent suicide note on the home’s kitchen counter. Advertisement Johnson testified that she knew without a doubt that her daughter did not commit suicide, even though her husband was preparing to depart for a yearlong mission overseas with his Army National Guard unit. One would have assumed from reading the e-mail that Kerry Repp was going to be miserable, losing her family, her husband and money. But Kerry Repp was telling everyone how happy she would be without her husband around. She had filed for divorce but just hadn’t served her husband with the papers. Pregnant by another man, Kerry Repp was looking forward to being a mother again, Johnson said. "She was counting down the days until he was going to be gone. She was not depressed at all," Johnson said. "I don’t understand why she’d wake up on a Saturday morning and send this (e-mail) to me." Also sent to Gary Repp’s e-mail account, the message focused on Kerry Repp’s insecurities and emotional scars. The message contained sensitive information that only Kerry’s immediate family, including her husband, would know, the Johnsons said. The e-mail’s tone was one of anger toward Kerry Repp’s mother, reflecting Repp’s own dislike for his mother-in-law, JoeAnn Johnson said. And the salutation "Mother" didn’t ring true. Kerry Repp always called her mother "Mom," her parents said. "The whole tone of the thing was from somebody I didn’t know," Ron Johnson testified, citing a specific reference to Gary Repp’s coming "deployment to the Sinai." Kerry Repp always told people that her husband was leaving for Egypt, never identifying the specific region, her parents said. And while the e-mail lauded Repp’s accomplishments, calling him a "proactive father," Kerry Repp never in her life used the term "proactive," Ron Johnson said. But Repp used the word several times while talking to detectives about his marriage during an interview after Kerry Repp’s death. In addition to reliving his relationship with his wife, Repp gave detectives a detailed account of his activities the day of his wife’s death. After hours of listening to him, police would tell Repp that his story didn’t add up. Kerry Repp was doing laundry while he got the two children ready for a baseball game and a weekend of camping, Repp told detectives in a videotaped interview played for the jury. She was using the family’s computer. And she called out to her family, "Hurry up, you’re going to be late" just before they left the house. The couple exchanged no goodbyes. Kerry Repp’s two sons, however, told police that they didn’t see their mother that morning. Repp had told the boys their mother was sleeping. JoeAnn Johnson and others at the baseball game would hear that Kerry Repp was "doing the pregnant thing." "You’re telling (the boys) the truth when you’re telling them mom is upstairs in bed � because you didn’t want them to see," Medford police detective Tim Doney said to Repp. "This is freakin’ horrible that you would accuse me of this," Repp said. Officers would arrest Repp nine days after that interview. Repp maintained there was nothing other than a few reminder notes on the kitchen counter where police found his wife’s suicide letter. He never mentioned a note signed with his own name stating that he was going to "the river." Investigators would find Kerry Repp’s thumbprint on that note while her husband’s fingerprints would dot her purported suicide note. Reach reporter Sarah Lemon at 776-4487, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2004 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback 3 WEEKS FREE! ADVERTISERS A D V E R T I S E R S RESOURCES Oregon Road Conditions & Cams SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Since We Asked Food for Thought Wellness Connection Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? 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