Gabrielle Axon
KINGMAN – A Mesa woman who served nine months in prison for abandoning her mother’s dead body has been indicted for killing her. A Mohave County Grand Jury on June 13 indicted Gabrielle Axon, 52, for second degree murder for the death of Brenda Marshall, 71.
Axon is also charged with theft, theft of means of transportation, two counts of credit card fraud and for taking the identity of another.
Kingman police previously indicated that another daughter reported Marshall missing when she was unable to reach her by phone from Aug. 7 through 13, 2022. Dubbed “Daughter #2” in a detailed Probable Cause (PC) statement, the woman told authorities on Aug. 13, 2022 that Marshall’s male roommate in Kingman advised that Marshall had left a handwritten note that she was relocating to the Phoenix area with Axon, and would retrieve her belongings later.
Daughter #2 expressed immediate concern “because she is aware of threats made by the defendant to kill the victim on several occasions,” Mesa Police Department detective J. Moran said in the PC statement. The sibling questioned authorship of the note, believing her mother would not phrase things the way the note read.
Her two sisters advised they reached Axon by cellphone and that she provided false addresses where they were going to live. One told investigators that Axon pretended to be her mother during one of the calls, before indicating Marshall was instead in the bathroom, and unavailable.
One sibling searching relocation addresses provided by Axon located Marshall’s missing SUV parked at 5755 E. Main St. on Aug. 13, 2022. She called police who detected a foul odor upon opening the vehicle.
“They located the victim deceased in the fetal position inside a large grey plastic tote with clothing items on top of the tote concealing her appearance,” Moran’s statement said. It said it was established that Axon stayed at the Windemere Hotel just across the street from where her mother’s vehicle and body were located and that the Medical Examiner concluded that Marshall had been strangled to death by hand and was murdered.
Moran’s PC statement noted a search of Marshall’s E. Gordon Dr. residence in Kingman following recovery of her body in Mesa turned up a lid matching the lidless tote that her body was stuffed in. And Axon’s fingerprints were lifted from the underside of that lid found in Kingman, according to Moran.
Deputy Kingman Police Chief Joel Freed said no other evidence of note was located at Marshall’s Kingman property.
Moran’s PC statement said video surveillance secured in Kingman showed Axon driving her mom’s Nissan on Aug. 10, 2022 when she visited a Circle K and used Marshall’s credit card to withdraw $200 and using the card again 20 minutes later to purchase fuel at a Chevron station.
More than six hours later, another surveillance video shows Axon using her mother’s bank card to withdraw another $200 from a Bank of America ATM in Phoenix.
Investigation led to Axon’s Nov., 2022 arrest in Glendale. She was eventually convicted of abandonment of a dead body and began serving a short prison sentence last July.
Moran’s PC statement said that one of Axon’s notebooks made bizarre statements about her mother beginning in 2020.
“The defendant used the victim’s name and wrote that she must be ‘vanquished by the wolf’ back to where she belongs & right the wrongs,” Axon reportedly wrote. “Stop Brenda’s evil and hold her accountable for the evil she’s done to innocent others. She needs to feel the wrath godspeed.”
Deputy Mohave County Attorney James Schoppmann said a warrant for her arrest has issued and that Axon has been served notice of her murder indictment while in custody for property crimes in Maricopa County. He said it’s anticipated that Axon will be returned to Kingman for local prosecution in a couple of months.
Dave Hawkins
