Local woman seeks sister’s remains
Mary Jo Overly, the adopted sister of murder victim Helen Gillin, begged Tuesday to have her mother, Roberta Gillin, release the woman’s remains to her so she can be buried. “It’s something I need that she doesn’t need. She’s doing it to look good,” said Overly of Roberta Gillin. “I’m doing it because I love (Helen). If my mother has any little shred of love left for me, she’ll let me do it. I need to do it.”
Overly’s impassioned plea came hours after she found out her mother, charged with and then acquitted of Helen Gillin’s death, came forward to claim the 2,200 bone fragments that constitute the 27-year-old’s remains.
“When I heard she came forward, I really lost it. I’m the one that loves Helen. I’m the one that’s had (the funeral arrangements) done for two years now,” said Overly.
Overly said Roberta Gillin, now living in Johnstown, heard about a story that sought someone to claim Helen Gillin’s remains at the Fayette County coroner’s office.
“If I have to drive to Johnstown and hunt every street for her, I will. I will find her, just to ask her to let me have Helen,” said Overly.
Field investigator Roger Victor confirmed that Roberta Gillin did claim the remains and said that Overly also called to get what is left of her adopted sister. He said that Gillin has refused to turn over the remains to Overly, despite being asked to do so.
But, said Victor, the law is clear in defining Roberta Gillin as the next of kin. Only with Gillin’s permission can the remains be released to Overly, he said.
Overly said she hopes that her mother will allow her to bury the remains since that has been her plan since her parents were arrested in 1999 and charged in her sister’s death. But Overly said she’s had to wait, first through her father’s trial, and then through her mother’s. However, when Roberta Gillin was found not guilty, Overly said she was told that the remains were not hers to claim.
Nonetheless, Overly said she has had funeral arrangements done for two years. Her sister’s remains would be laid to rest in a stillborn casket. The headstone is carved and the grave has been dug. She has a picture of her sister blown up since bone fragments are the only thing left of Helen Gillin.
Overly even planned to play the Tim McGraw song “Please Remember Me” at her sister’s funeral. The beginning verse of the song says, “When all our tears have reached the sea/Part of you will live in me/Way down deep inside my heart/The days keep coming without fail/A new wind is gonna find your sail/That’s where your journey starts.”
Overly said she plays the song to think of her sister and cries, remembering the doll they used to fight over as children and her sister’s perpetual smile as she played with Overly’s children. Gillin, who was mentally retarded, was “like a 27-year-old with the mentality of a 5-year-old,” said Overly.
Gillin’s death goes back to 1992, state police believe, when she was reportedly fed a concoction of bleach and heart medication by her mother and then stomped to death by her father, James Gillin. Her remains were then burned in backyard fire pit of the family’s Bear Rocks home.
While James Gillin was convicted of first-degree murder and is serving a life sentence in prison, Roberta Gillin was acquitted on all charges last June. She testified that she had nothing to do with her daughter’s death, handing all the blame to her husband. Although Gillin said she knew what happened to the woman, she told jurors she kept quiet out of fear, both of her husband and criminal prosecution.
Since Roberta Gillin was acquitted, Victor said there is little the office can do to stop her from claiming Helen’s remains if she wants them.
“By law, she wasn’t convicted and she is the next of kin,” said Victor, noting that officials have yet to prepare Helen Gillin’s death certificate and make arrangements to have a funeral home pick up the remains.
Before bringing his quest to find someone to claim the remains to the media, Victor said he tried to track down both Overly and Gillin through various sources, but could not. But when the story seeking someone to claim the remains ran, Victor said both women responded.
Overly, who still lives in Acme, said she had no idea that she could have claimed the remains. Since she does not have a phone, however, no one could get in touch with her.
She tearfully repeated over and again to her mother to release the remains to her.
“I just want to beg her to let me have (Helen) so I can get closure in my life,” said Overly, the star witness in both her parents’ trials.
For right now, when Overly wants to feel close to her sister, she visits her already-dug grave, and clutches the small red doll they used to fight over. Without her sister’s remains to bury, Overly said she was going to make a coffin for the small doll and bury it in her yard as a remembrance of the sister she loved so much.
Although Overly no longer talks to her mother and does not know how to reach her at her new home, she vowed that if her mother allows her to bury Helen’s remains, she could come to the funeral as well.
“If (my mother) feels that she has to, she’s more than welcome to come to the funeral. I’d just rather not speak to her, but I’ll deal with that,” said Overly. “There’s no expense at all to my mother if she’d just give me the OK to pick her up and do it all.”
“Helen deserves her peace. I went all out because I wanted to do it right for her. I figured she deserved it.”