Bio

Cheryl Jenkins Gasper was born on September 8, 1962. Records show she lived in Chaffee, New York, at 3835 Forks Road. She was married to Andie Gasper and the couple had three children. In the 1980s, Andie Gasper and Randall Knight were stationed together at Carswell Air Force Base in Fort Worth, Texas, and Cheryl Gasper and Knight became involved.

Murder Story

Cheryl L. Gasper was born September 8, 1962. She was arrested on May 18, 2010, for the July 3, 1994, death of her husband, Andie Gasper. The case was classified as murder and as a murder-for-hire plot. There was one victim.

Andie Gasper was 32 years old. He was found behind the Ames department store in the Town of Yorkshire, Cattaraugus County, New York. He had been stabbed and was seat belted in his pickup truck. Reports say he was stabbed once in the chest inside the truck.

Investigators said Cheryl Gasper conspired with her former lover, Randall Knight, to have her husband killed. Knight met the Gaspers while in the Air Force. He was an early suspect and was tried in 1995, but a jury acquitted him at that time. In a later federal case, Knight admitted crossing state lines in a murder-for-hire plot, pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to a federal prison term.

Cold-case investigators from the Cattaraugus County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI reopened the 1994 case. They obtained new evidence that led to an indictment. Cheryl Gasper pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on October 5, 2010. She waived her right to appeal and was assured the FBI would not prosecute her. She was sentenced to 18 years to life in prison in November 2010.

Authorities said Gasper and Knight had planned to use proceeds from a life insurance policy to build a house. The insurance company did not pay after determining the policy signature had been forged. Family members attended court hearings and investigators credited long work by the Cold Case Unit and the FBI in bringing the case back to the grand jury.