EAGLE LAKE, FL — A 21-year-old man from Knoxville, Tennessee, has been charged with First-Degree Murder in the death of his mother after a violent attack at her Eagle Lake home that investigators say ended with multiple crashes on U.S. 27.
During a Wednesday morning press conference, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd announced that 21-year-old Gibson Nash has been charged with First-Degree Murder, along with two counts of Leaving the Scene of a Crash Involving Injury, in connection with the July 21 killing of his mother, 56-year-old Margaret Chu Dufour, at her home on Wilder Way in the Ranches at Lake McLeod community off Bomber Road in Eagle Lake.
According to the Sheriff, deputies were initially dispatched around 6:58 a.m. on July 21 to a series of hit-and-run crashes involving a blue 2022 BMW SUV on U.S. 27 near Holly Hill Grove Road. The BMW struck multiple vehicles before crossing into oncoming traffic, colliding with another vehicle towing a trailer, and eventually becoming disabled. Nine other people were involved in the crashes, with three suffering minor injuries.
Deputies later determined the BMW was registered to Chu Dufour and went to her home to check on her welfare. After receiving no response and learning from neighbors that they had heard loud “thuds” around 4:30 a.m., deputies discovered broken glass near a rear sliding door and a shovel outside the residence. Upon entering the home, they found Chu Dufour dead with severe blunt-force facial injuries.
Detectives identified Nash as the driver of the BMW and later named him the prime suspect in his mother’s murder. Investigators documented bruising on Nash’s knuckles and feet while he was hospitalized, and testing later confirmed that blood found on his boots belonged to his mother.
According to the Sheriff’s Office, family members told investigators Nash had a lengthy history of violence and mental illness, including reported diagnoses of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. They said he had been arrested multiple times for domestic violence in Tennessee, including an incident in which he allegedly threatened his mother with a knife. Investigators also learned Chu Dufour had driven to Tennessee on July 14 after Nash bonded out of jail and brought him back to Eagle Lake to live with her.
Medical staff reported Nash was hospitalized with liver damage after reportedly ingesting a large amount of Tylenol before the crashes. He remained sedated and intubated until August 3, when he was extubated and arrested on the murder charge. He remains under the supervision of the Polk County Sheriff’s Office at the hospital and will be booked into the Polk County Jail once he is medically cleared.
Sheriff Grady Judd described the killing as “a mix of pure rage and extreme violence,” adding that Nash “needs to remain locked away from the public forever.”
SOURCE: POLK COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE
