Alexis Gabe’s family confirms discovery of new remains, hopes more evidence will be revealed
Loved ones and the city of Oakley will honor the slain woman with a plaque, which will be installed Friday on a park bench.
The family of Alexis Gabe has confirmed that partial remains found during volunteer searches in January matched their daughter who was killed more than a year ago.
The partial remains were discovered by volunteer searchers on Highway 49 a week before a celebration of life for the Oakley woman, but the family did not know if they were connected to the case until recently. Rowena Gabe, Alexis’ mother, thanked the search-and-recovery teams and said, “There will be no stopping us until we bring her home,” on her Facebook page.
Gwyn Gabe, Alexis’ father, said in an interview that searchers found his daughter’s torso and other remains confirmed by DNA as well as other evidence.
The finds could bring them another step closer to determining the manner of her death and whether the killer had any help afterward.
“We’re still trying to find her green purse, the rest of her phone and other stuff,” Gabe said, noting he hopes that will lead to more evidence in he case.
“My wife just doesn’t want to stop,” he added. “She wants to find everything. She won’t even return to work. She says I’m not going back to work until I find all of her.”
Alexis, then 23, disappeared on the evening of Jan. 26, 2022, after she left her Oakley home to visit her ex-boyfriend Marshall Curtis Jones in Antioch. Police later determined Marshall killed her, but before they could arrest him at the Seattle-area apartment where he had relocated, he charged at the arresting officers and was fatally shot.
The Gabes have said they will not rest until they bring all of Alexis home for a proper goodbye. Her skull was found in November in a remote area of Amador County by a visitor who was metal detecting there. The area had not been searched previously.
The Gabes and others are hoping the new remains will bring more clarity to the case. When the latest remains were found they were first thought to be animal bones, but a searcher’s veterinarian husband went back to the site and determined they were not, Gwyn Gabe said.
Amador Couty Sheriffs Office then requested DNA tests, and now that they are complete, the Contra Costa County Coroner’s Office will be bringing the remains back to Martinez for an autopsy, Gwyn Gabe said.
Chief Assistant District Attorney Simon O’Connell had said last fall that the remains would help them determine the manner in which Alexis was killed and be able to better assess who else might be chargeable in the case.
On Wednesday, Ted Asregado, a spokesperson for the District Attorney’s Office, indicated they are still working on the case.
“We are continuing to confer with the other involved law enforcement agencies regarding what insights, if any, can be determined from Alexis Gabe’s remains,” he said. “We are also continuing to review the evidence and will discuss its impact on the case with the victim’s family before any decision is announced.”
The family has also announced that the city of Oakley will install a plaque on a bench at City Hall, 3231 Main St., in her honor on Friday, which would have been her 25th birthday.
Oakley Chief of Police Paul Beard will be presenting the plaque at 6 p.m. and a priest will preside over a dedication ceremony.
For more information, go to the Help Bring Alexis Home Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/224250809922824.