Oakley bench honors memory of woman
The family of Alexis Gabe, an East Bay woman missing for nine months before her remains were found late last year, dedicated a bench Friday to honor her memory.
The city of Oakley dedicated a plaque on the bench at Oakley City Park, four months after the 24year-old’s remains were discovered in Amador County. Her father, Gwyn Gabe, announced the dedication on social media and a Facebook page that amassed thousands of followers in the aftermath of her disappearance.
“We chose this day because it’s also the same day as Alexis’ birthday,” Gwyn Gabe wrote, announcing the dedication.
The case ignited a furor across the Bay Area last year amid widespread speculation about her whereabouts. Hundreds of volunteers fanned out after the Gabe family called for public assistance locating her body.
Gabe disappeared in late January 2022, and authorities immediately suspected that an ex-boyfriend, Marshall Curtis Jones, 27, was involved. But her location remained a mystery until late November, when an Amador County resident alerted officials to finding something suspicious that appeared to be human remains.
Authorities recovered partial remains near Plymouth, an area Jones visited in the days after Gabe’s disappearance. Dental records confirmed the remains belonged to Gabe, Oakley officials said. But investigators did not find her entire body, leading them to suspect parts of her body were scattered in various areas.
The discovery followed several false alarms during searches for her remains in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada.
Detectives suspected Jones killed Gabe in his Antioch home the day she went missing. Contra Costa County prosecutors charged Jones with Gabe’s murder in May 2022 after an extensive investigation. Authorities tracked him for months, tapped his phone and compiled other evidence against him, including surveillance video, cell phone data and DNA, the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office said at the time.
U.S. Marshals Service officers in Washington state shot and killed Jones in early June after he allegedly charged at them with a knife as they tried to arrest him for the death.