Scott City man receives sentence in murder case

Thursday, January 17, 2002

WAYNESVILLE - A Scott City man was sentenced to life plus 50 years in prison for his role in the beating death of his cousin's lover.

Gary Wayne Biggs was sentenced Wednesday by Circuit Judge Douglas Long of Pulaski County, according to the circuit clerk's office in Waynesville.

Biggs was found guilty last October of first-degree murder and armed criminal action in the killing of 57-year-old Willie Mae Vasquez, whose body was found Aug. 9, 2000, in a shallow grave near the Mississippi River in Scott County. The case was changed to Pulaski County on a change of venue.

Charles "Scott" Biggs, Gary Biggs' 32-year-old cousin, testified in October that he had become fearful that his girlfriend would become aware of his sexual relations with Vasquez, who lived in Scott City. During a fishing trip on the banks of the Mississippi River, the cousins decided to take Vasquez to the river to kill her.

After taking a hatchet from a relative's house, the cousins invited Vasquez to come with them to the river to fish. Gary Biggs struck Vasquez several times in the head with the hatchet and threatened to kill his cousin if he didn't hit her, Charles Biggs said in court.

Charles Biggs pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of second-degree murder in July in exchange for his testimony against his cousin.

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