Murder of Sharon Ray by Robert Earl Gaines investigated on Murder in the Heartland

Murder in the Heartland is examining the murder of Sharon Ray, whose remains were found in a well in Livingston County near Grand Rivers, Kentucky.

On June 25, 2004, the cops found 38-year-old Sharon’s remains lying at the bottom of a well. She had been covered in lime.

Sharon had been missing from her home for nearly three months.

The cops soon zeroed in on Robert Earl Gaines, who shared a house with Sharon.

Gaines claimed that Sharon was killed by her friend, Sue Harnice, but he admitted that he had helped Harnice dispose of the body.

Harnice was staying with Gaines and Sharon while she recuperated from having 18 teeth removed. Sharon was a dental nurse, and she was nursing Harnice back to health.

Killer Robert Earl Gaines blamed Harnice for Sharon Ray murder

Gaines later claimed that he and Sharon had been taking meth for three weeks and that he wasn’t thinking straight. He said Harnice had accidentally shot Sharon but that he helped her take the body to the well, and he disposed of the murder weapon, a .22 pistol.

He said Sharon had put Harnice in a tent in the backyard and had given her a firearm. He claimed Sharon had gone out to the backyard, and he heard a gunshot. The killer claimed he found Sharon lying on the ground with Harnice standing over her, yelling, “I did not mean to do it. I did not know it was her.”

The cops didn’t believe Gaines’s lies. The killer took the cops to the murder weapon, hoping they would find Harnice’s fingerprints. Harnice said she had touched the firearm while helping Sharon clean the house on the day of the murder.

A few days after the murder, Gaines went to the home of his cousin, Randall MacDonald, and confessed that he killed Sharon and he needed his cousin’s help. MacDonald helped Gaines pour the lime onto Sharon’s body. He accidentally dropped a glove into the well.

MacDonald was charged with tampering with physical evidence but subsequently agreed to testify against Gaines.

Robert Earl Gaines received lengthy sentence for Sharon Ray killing

Sharon’s hairdresser, Larry Wilson, came forward, telling the cops that Sharon had told him, days before her murder, that she feared Gaines was going to kill her.

Gaines was eventually convicted of the murder of Sharon, possession of a handgun by a convicted felon, tampering with physical evidence, and abuse of a corpse. He was sentenced to 46 years. He passed away in 2011, aged 48.

Murder in the Heartland airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on Investigation Discovery.