Sheriff: Couple charged with murder targeted 83-year-old Carroll Co. woman

A man and woman charged with murder after they attempted to rob an 83-year-old Carroll County woman have been identified by investigators.

Andrew James Conard, 37, and Amanda Rae Sperry, 29, a couple who lived together in Carrollton, were arrested Tuesday and charged with the murder of Barbara Gibson, Sheriff Terry Langley said in a news conference Wednesday morning.

Based on a confession made by one of the suspects and other evidence, Langley said investigators determined that the couple staked out Gibson’s house and planned to rob her, reasoning that she would be an easy target as an elderly woman who lived alone. Investigators have not determined what led Conard and Sperry to kill Gibson.

According to Langley, Conard and Sperry moved to Carrollton more than a year ago and lived in the same community as Gibson. Neither has much of a criminal past, Langley said, noting that Sperry had no criminal record and that Conard had a few misdemeanors in Wisconsin. Langley said the couple had moved around for several years before settling in Carrollton, and that they had been together for six to eight years. Asked if the couple had a history of similar robberies, Langley said no.

Langley said he knew Gibson and that she was a beloved member of the community.

“She was such a good person,” he said. “The reason so many people are here is not because she was killed, but because of how she lived.”

Langley read a statement from Gibson’s family that called the arrests “bittersweet.”

“It has really affected the community,” Langley said of Gibson’s death. “We think this is a death penalty case. That’s not for us to determine, but that’s how we see it.”

In Georgia, the death penalty must be sought by the prosecution and decided by a unanimous jury during the penalty phase of a trial.

Conard and Sperry will separately make their first court appearances Thursday afternoon. They are both being held in the Carroll County Jail without bond, online jail records show.

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