We don’t have many murders in Livingston County, when they do it shocks the community. When Gary Flemke murdered his soon to be ex-wife, then dragging her lifeless body into the back yard and dumping bags of lime on her, it made the act even more horrific.
During sentencing, Livingston County District Attorney Greg McCaffrey, who was handling his first murder as the District Attorney summed it up best, “This murder was conducted in a fit of rage, premeditated and violent,” said McCaffrey. “No punishment in the world fits this heinous crime.”
Gary Flemke is a disgusting coward – a psychopathic liar who’s life as a fraudulent self-proclaimed war hero caught up to him. As Flemke’s world crumbled around him he struck back at the one woman who gave him the time of day, a beautiful loving mother – Marcia Flemke.
The rage that fueled this murder is at the root of our domestic violence issues in the county. Men beating up women, men mentally abusing women. We need to be aware of it, and we need to look out for those in abusive relationships. We also need to take threats seriously. Flemke texted his wife, telling her, warning her, she was going to get it. And he did it, though no one thought he would.
No one could have imagined Flemke acting out like this. His physical presence is one of a decrepit creepy old man looking through thick rimmed glasses. Not of a beast that stood in his doorway that unloaded a shotgun at point blank rage at his soon to be ex wife.
Approximately eight family members sat there in the audience. Staring at Flemke, the man that was married to their beloved Marcia, at one point they even called him family. They had to sit there, feet away from the vile human that stole the life of Marcia. Meanwhile, Flemke continued to show his void of moral compass as he hung his head silently avoiding eye contact with those he had previously called family, declining any desire to make a comment before sentencing.
Since Marcia’s death, her son Justin, who spoke at the sentencing pointed out that his newborn son has been robbed of ever knowing his loving grandmother and delivered the most poignant words of the sentencing that will echo in Flemke’s conscience the rest of his days, and at the age of 61 the 20- life sentence likely makes that the rest of his days alive.
“I will never forgive him for what he did to my mom,” said Justin, “One day he will burn in hell.”