WELLS - Feb. 11 is a date that has been indelibly seared into the mind of Wells resident, Judy Deloria, for the past nine years. It was on Feb. 11, 2003, that Judy learned that her only son, John Limberger, was murdered in Lawton, Okla. He was killed the day before in a triple homicide, along with his girlfriend and another man who shared a house with him.
John, 25, his 23-year-old girlfriend, Lena Bohay, and 58-year-old Mac Donald Wright all worked at the Fort Sill Apache Casino. Their bodies were discovered by local police after receiving a call from a co-worker that the trio had not shown up for work. The co-worker knew something was wrong and went to check up on them but no one appeared to be at their home.
"I got a phone call from the police and they said John had been killed on the 10th," Judy recalled. "My first thought was that it was a traffic accident or something like that. When I asked how he died, they told me he had been murdered along with Lena and Mac. They said none of them had shown up for work and that wasn't like them. When the police came, they found the bodies."
John had been shot once in the head. Lena had been shot multiple times. Wright died from blunt trauma to the head after being struck with an iron fireplace poker.
Judy said her son was in the habit of calling her about once a week and said she last spoke with him in what is believed to be just moments before his death.
"Just before he hung up, he told me, 'I love you, Mom,' and I said, 'I love you, John.'"
Five days prior to the killing, John and his roommate reported a burglary at their home. Missing items included a piggy bank with $230 in change, a bottle bank with $520 in change, and strong box with an onyx ring with diamonds, two boxes of checks from a local bank, 100 $5 poker chips and the title to a 2000 Monte Carlo.
While investigating the theft, the police said they reviewed a surveillance video of a man cashing the stolen checks at a local bank and, while checking out area pawn shops, they discovered the onyx ring with the name of Elwood "Woody" Jackson Jr. on the pawn ticket and took the ring as evidence in the theft.
"John never knew they had found his ring," Judy said. "The detective called and told me he had what he believed was John's ring. He first asked me to describe it and then took a picture of it and faxed it to me to identify it."
Jackson, 42, who was the owner of the home where Limberger lived, was already in custody on unrelated charges, and was soon being questioned about the deaths at his house.
By April, Jackson was bound over for the triple homicide. He pleaded not guilty, underwent psychiatric examination and was deemed competent to stand trial six months later. After a series of continuances that left Judy frustrated and upset, Jackson's trial was finally scheduled to begin on Aug. 9, 2004. But Judy's frustration continued when the trial was postponed yet again when Jackson attempted to commit suicide with a stockpile of prescription pain medication and cold tablets.
"I went down for the first trial in August but it was delayed," Judy said. It was two more months before the trial actually began on Oct. 18, 2004, with jury selection. Within five days, Jackson was found guilty of the homicides after only 20 minutes of jury deliberation.
Judy and her husband, Dale, spoke with the investigators after the verdict saying, "It's been a long road a long 20 months," said Judy. "Until you have this happen to you, you just don't understand. You don't want to go through this again."
Following the sentencing phase of Jackson's trial, he was sentenced to death by lethal injection for the triple homicides. Judy said she was in favor of the death penalty in Jackson's case.
"Time heals all wounds but it never covers the scars," she related.
Although Jackson was sentenced to be executed on Feb. 10, 2005 - two years to the day after the murders - the date was stayed for years due to the appeals process while the prisoner spent his days and nights on death row.
