Women Behind Bars Tuesdays at 10p|9c

Jessica Gentry


Inmate Name: Jessica Gentry Charge: Capital murder Sentence: Life Prison: Mountain View, Texas Jessica Gentry was born in Dallas, Texas in 1976. Both of her parents were allegedly alcoholics and by the time Jessica was six, she had two brothers whom she took care of. As a result, Jessica and her brother, Jason, were adopted by Jessica’s uncle, Royce Gentry and his wife Sandy. Jessica’s second brother, Justin was raised by another relative. Jessica says that the adoption was emotionally damaging and her insecurities continued to mount while she was in school. When Jessica was 14, her adoptive parents Royce and Sandy divorced. Jessica chose to stay with her Uncle Royce but rebelled by cutting classes, smoking and drinking. She also struggled with her weight, which made her feel even lonelier. With low self-esteem, Jessica began using sex to get boys to pay attention to her. At age 16, Jessica moved in with Sandy and her new husband. During the week, however, to attend a better school, she stayed with Sandy’s mother, Carolyn Joyce Thomas, also known as Joyce. But the arrangement didn’t work out. Jessica then stayed with Sandy and her husband full time and in 1997, when she was 21, she earned her high school diploma. After graduating, Jessica was more interested in partying and doing drugs than working, and a frustrated Sandy asked her to leave her home. Jessica worked odd jobs and got an apartment with friends. But everything changed when she met Shawn Barclay. They became inseparable. Unable to maintain steady employment, Jessica could no longer pay her share of the rent so she moved in her with adoptive grandmother Joyce. Jessica would sneak out at night, stealing Joyce’s car to visit Shawn. On February 11, 1999 Jessica had an argument with Joyce when she caught her sneaking Shawn into the house. Shawn stayed with Jessica that day while her grandmother was at work. According to Jessica, Shawn had made up his mind to kill Joyce. Jessica said she felt powerless to stop him. On February 12, Jessica claims she called their friend Drew Alexander to her calm Shawn down but the prosecution contends that it was Jessica who enlisted Drew to participate in the murder of her grandmother. Shawn and Drew suffocated Joyce with Jessica hiding in her bedroom. The trio put the body in the trunk of Joyce’s car and dumped it off the side of a bridge. Jessica and Shawn took Joyce’s car, and drove to Memphis, Tennessee. In the early morning hours, a construction crew found the body. As the sheriff’s department began their investigation on the unidentified woman, Sandy, Joyce’s daughter and Jessica’s adoptive mother, became concerned about her mother and filed a missing person report. The following day, police were able to connect Joyce with the "Jane Doe" found several days earlier. Jessica became their number one suspect. On February 17, five days after the murder, Jessica and Shawn were arrested. Their friend, Drew was apprehended the next day and charged with capital murder. Shawn and Drew plead guilty to murder. Shawn received a life sentence and Drew, a 25-year sentence. Jessica chose to go to trial, was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 40 years. She says she cut off contact with Shawn Barclay in 2002, and thinks about her grandmother every day.