Florida Man Accused in Mother's Killing After Crash Spree

Florida man Gibson Nash is facing a first-degree murder charge after deputies say he killed his mother, Margaret Chu Dufour, in Polk County following a violent chain of events that began with a crash spree in her blue BMW SUV. The case has drawn attention because Dufour, a 56-year-old nurse, had moved to Florida in an effort to get her son mental health help after repeated arrests and threats against her.

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said deputies found Dufour’s body on the floor of her home after Nash was involved in multiple traffic crashes on the morning of July 21. Judd said the crashes began shortly before seven a.m., when Nash allegedly fled the first wreck and then hit several other vehicles. Three people were injured and treated at a hospital. Deputies later found Nash unconscious behind the wheel, covered in blood. He was taken to a hospital, sedated and intubated, after being identified only as an unknown patient at first.

Deputies went to Dufour’s home because the vehicle was registered there. When she did not answer the door, investigators noticed a broken glass plate near the patio door and a shovel near the side of the house. They entered with a key found on the front porch and found Dufour dead inside. The medical examiner determined that she died from blunt force injuries from a beating and strangulation. Judd called it one of the most violent murders he had seen in decades of law enforcement.

The killing followed a troubling history in Tennessee, where Nash and Dufour lived before her move south. In April, Nash was arrested twice for allegedly threatening to kill his mother. In one incident, Dufour called 911 after saying her son had attacked and assaulted her. She told the dispatcher that the only way to calm him was to agree to take him to a smoke shop. Nash was later accused of threatening her with a knife. Later that month, he allegedly threatened her again with a knife after an argument over Xbox use.