Murder of Joni Gunter by Russell Tillis investigated on Evil Lives Here

ID is re-airing the Evil Lives Here investigation into the gruesome murder of Joni Gunter by Russell Tillis, who butchered his victim at his home, dubbed a house of horrors, in Jacksonville, Florida.

Tillis was a habitual offender who had abused his wife for years before going on to chain women in his home and charge men to have sex with them.

In 2015, the police chased Tillis into his yard as he was facing charges of aggravated assault and battery. The officers encountered a booby-trapped yard with razor blades and half-buried boards studded with nails.

While Tillis was in custody, the police put a wire on inmate Sammy Evans, and he recorded a terrifying conversation with Tillis. The killer said he had been holding 30-year-old Joni Gunter captive in his home. He then claimed his brother had come to the house to have sex with Gunter and told Tillis to kill her because she had recognized him.

Tillis recounted how they had hung Gunter from chains in the garage and had cut her head off with a saw. Tillis then dismembered the body and buried the pieces in the backyard.

The cops retrieved a search warrant, and they found Gunter’s remains buried in four holes on Tillis’s property.

Russell Tillis likely beat Joni Gunter to death with a hammer

A coroner’s report concluded that Gunter had been struck on the head with a hammer at least five times. The hammer had also broken her hand in three places as she likely tried to protect herself from the blows.

At his trial, Tillis claimed a unique defense. He said he had known Evans was wearing a wire, and he had fabricated the story about killing Gunter so he would be executed.

He claimed that at the time, he was feeling suicidal, so he had concocted a particularly gruesome story to ensure he was given a death sentence.

The killer claimed that his brother had turned up at his home with Gunter’s remains and that he had no idea how she died.

Killer Russell Tillis sentenced to life for Joni Gunter murder

In April 2021, a jury found Tillis guilty of first-degree murder, kidnapping, and dismemberment. He was given two back-to-back life sentences plus a further 30 years for abuse of a corpse.

Tillis avoided the death penalty because three members of the jury voted against it, and in Florida, the vote must be unanimous. He is currently incarcerated at Santa Rosa Correctional Institution in Milton, FL.

This episode of Evil Lives Here re-airs Thursday at 7/6c on Investigation Discovery.