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The person I got that info from essentially gave an account of the phone conversation between the Sheriff and his wife. I'm not sure how much is totally accurate since they most likely wont release this to the media, so I was hesitant to post it. Also, after hearing more, the comment about "deaths being avoidable" probably wasn't accurate.

According to the story, she called him when she pulled into their driveway and a car pulled in behind her(I originally had heard she called before she reached home and was told not go go home, but that was incorrect). He supposedly told her not to get out of the car and to wait on the deputies, but she did anyway in an attempt to make into the house. She was shot in the driveway while on the phone(nextel wakie-talkie) with him. First officer on the scene shows up, doesn't see the suspects as they were hiding and they ambushed him and shot him from behind while he was checking on her.

I didn't want to post it before everything else was confirmed because it could have been construed that I was blaming the wife for not doing what she was advised to do, which I am certainly not(and I am glad I did not post the incorrect information about when she first called her husband to say she was being followed). The men were obviously intent on killing her and whoever else they could, so It probably didn't matter what she did. Its so sad to hear that the entire event, from her calling her husband to tell him she had been followed till the time the perps were killed, went down in only seven minutes time. Seven minutes.

I'm not sure which articles you may have read, but it seems like Mr. Sands believed that charges would end up being filed against him once his suit was dismissed. This seems partly because he was not the only person who was entitled to his wife's death benefits - but the other family members had never been told they were entitled until recently when the insurance company filed some motion to make the family determine how much each was supposed to get. Gale Sands' family is apparently now convinced Mr. Sands and Mr. Brown were responsible for her death given a)they didn't tell them they were entitled to part of the insurance money and now b)that he did this. Mr. Sands also has at least a minor history of being mentally unstable and resorting to violence to get his way.

It's still possible that some of these details are not accurate, but I suspect they are pretty close if not. An acquaintance of mine has a close relative who works in law enforcement in the area and some of this was third-hand accounts based upon what other officers and their families have said.

Thank you again for taking the time to type all that out. Most of your information coincides with what I have read in the Dothan Eagle - http://www.dothaneagle.com, yet a more thorough story appears is an on-line paper (with the occasional grammatical and spelling error) here:

http://www.rickystokesnews.com/news/news.php?newsid=2699

One part of this sad affair that is puzzling me is the discovery of bleach and vinegar in the gun men's vehicle. I can't even fathom a use for these liquids in the commission of a crime. From the above link:

"Following the shootout, Investigators found the two gunman with latex gloves on. In their car was vinegar and bleach. They had plastic ties like law enforcement uses as handcuffs. They also found duct tape in the car. Both Sands and Brown were armed with a .38 and .22 handguns and ammunition."

"Sands was dressed with a wig, fake mustache and makeup. Brown had a suit on and sunglasses. Meadows said they had worked to disguise both their identity and that of their vehicle."