Their story was featured on NBC’s longest running television show “Dateline” Friday in a two-hour episode titled “The Sleepover,” which included now-retired Escambia County Sheriff’s Office investigator Buddy Nesmith as well as Pensacola defense attorney Chris Crawford and Assistant State Attorney Amy Shea.
Sherri Malarik’s story began on Sept. 21, 2001, when she and Gregory’s five children had their cousins over for a pizza night and sleepover. That’s when Gregory allegedly called Sherri to the backyard.
A 20-year-old cold case involving an affair, a fatal gunshot and a cover-up ended in 2023 when Gregory Malarik was acquitted of murdering his wife Sherri Malarik during a second trial.
“I just remember my mom walking by and saying nonchalantly, ‘Hey, I’m going to go outside to talk to your dad,'” son Jacob Malarik told the News Journal in 2023. “And that was the last I saw of her.”
Shea, who prosecuted both trials, argued that Gregory shot Sherri twice outside with a .25 caliber gun when she sat in the passenger seat of the red family van. He then allegedly drove the van to Winn Dixie where he left her body.