Donald Gentry, 66, was found dead Monday morning by his girlfriend in his home. He lived at 4537 S. Walnut St. in a rental trailer.
The investigation is still ongoing and no suspects are known at this time. Preliminary reports say Gentry’s head may have been bashed in.
His daughter, Angela Walker, was at the scene while Monroe County sheriffs investigated. She had received a call from her friend Amanda Harding earlier in the day telling her that her father had been killed.
Walker said she remembers talking to him as early as 1 a.m. Monday.
“One minute I’m talking to him and the next he’s dead.” Walker said.
Walker said Gentry had been a disabled factory worker. He was also a diabetic, which his daughter and neighbors said made it hard for him to move around. His neighbor, Kathy Mobley, said Gentry had trouble getting around, but he went out of his way to be kind.
“He was a very nice man,” Mobley said. “He’d do anything for anybody.”
Mobley said she still remembers when she and her family moved in a year ago, they did not have a pot to make spaghetti, so Gentry let her come over anytime to borrow his pot.
Gentry also would often drive by Mobley if he saw her walking to Kroger and tell her to get in the car because it was too far to walk. Gentry also let Mobley borrow his lawn mower to keep their lawn trimmed.
“He’d give you the shirt off his back,” Mobley said. “It’s just how he was.”
Mobley said she remembers seeing Gentry talking with someone outside his trailer at approximately 8 p.m. Sunday. That was the last she saw of him.
Mobley’s brother, Carl, stopped by the crime scene to talk with Walker and to discuss how to handle Donald’s possessions. Carl said he wanted to bury his brother out by their father near the North Green County Line Road.
Walker said she talked with her father almost every day and that until four months ago she had been living in a house near his to check on him.
“It’s crazy,” Walker said. “My dad is my world.”
The officers brought Gentry’s body out of his trailer at approximately 6:30 p.m. Monday. They rolled him out on a stretcher, his body completely covered. Walker began to cry again as they rolled Gentry out and into a vehicle.
“I just want to see my dad,” Walker said. “They won’t let me see my dad.”
The sheriffs will continue to investigate and will maintain a presence in the area throughout the night, but there is currently no additional information available on Gentry’s murder.
“I want him to walk out that door and say, ‘Surprise!’ That’s what I want him to do,” Walker said.
