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First Marriage

In 1968, Gerald Hand married Donna Anderson. He went off to fight in Vietnam, and when he came back, the marriage started to go downhill.

On March 24th, 1976, Gerald called the police and told them he returned to his Colombus, Ohio, home along with his brother, and they found his wife Donna dead at the bottom of the basement stairs. She was fully clothed with a bag over her head and a wire around her neck. She died from strangulation.

The home showed no signs of forced entry. Some drawers were pulled out upstairs, but nothing was missing.

The investigators learned that Donna told her sister in the fall of 1975 that she was planning to leave Gerald and move back with their parents. She also told her sister she “feared for her life.” Two weeks before she was murdered, she told a different sister she was planning to file for divorce.

Because Gerald had an airtight alibi, police could not connect him to the murder.

Gerald received over 67,000 dollars in life insurance. He also received another 50,000 dollars from the Ohio Victims Compensation program, which gives financial assistance to families of violent crime victims.

Sometime before the murder in 1975 or early 1976, Teresa Fountain heard Lonnie Welch, an employee of Gerald, talking to her boyfriend. Welch made a statement about “knocking his boss’s wife off to get some insurance money.”

After Donna was killed, Welch threatened Fountain to keep her mouth shut.

Second Marriage

Gerald moved on with his life, and when he married Lori Willis on June 18th, 1977, Welch was his best man.

Gerald moved Lori into the same home where Donna was killed. Within two years, the marriage went downhill. Lori told people she was unhappy and was going to file for divorce. However, she would never get the chance.

On September 9th, 1979, Gerald left the home with his son Robby and Lori’s brother Steven at around 8:30 am. The trio spent time hanging out for the next couple of hours.

At 9:30 am, Lori’s mother stopped by the home Gerald and Lori shared. She was going to help Lori set up a bridal shower, but no one answered, so she left.

She came back around 11 am and saw the door ajar. She went into the home briefly, but she got scared and called Gerald’s family. They came over and found Lori dead in the basement. Her pants were unbuttoned, and her blouse was pulled up. She had a plastic bag over her head, a wire around her neck and she had been shot twice. Her cause of death was ruled to be strangulation.

Her vehicle had been stolen from the garage and was found three blocks away. Just like Donna’s murder, the house had no signs of forced entry and was ransacked, but nothing was taken.

Gerald returned home when he learned of his second wife’s death. When speaking to investigators, he told them he and Lori had sexual issues because he wanted it nightly, and she didn’t. Gerald also told them he had recently doubled his insurance on her so it would be enough to pay off his two mortgages.

A day after the murder, a bloody glove was found where police had found Lori’s car.

A month later, during a second interview, Gerald told authorities he didn’t trust his employees. He also told them that his wife was not planning to leave him.

Gerald received just under $127,000 from insurance after Lori’s death.

In 1979 and 1980, Welch told his cousin he “killed Donna and Lori Hand.” But his cousin didn’t come forward until decades later.

During that same time, Welche’s sister saw him with a bunch of money, cars, and a girlfriend who dressed lavishly.

Third and Fourth Marriages

Gerald married Glenna Castle after Lori. Shockingly, that marriage didn’t end in murder; the couple divorced after seven or eight years.

In October 1992, Gerald married Jill Randolph. The two moved into Jill’s place in Galena, Ohio.

By 2000, Gerald was struggling financially because a radiator shop he opened had failed.

He had $218,000 in credit card debt. He also charged $24,000 on a credit card in Jill’s name without her permission.

After selling his business in October 2000, he got a job as a security guard at $9.50 an hour. The drop in income didn’t stop Gerald from paying for his wife’s insurance coverage.

In July and August of 2001, Welch asked his brother for a gun and told him he had killed Gerald’s first two wives. Welch also told his brother he was planning to kill his fourth wife and use the money to retire or invest in real estate.

In December, Welch was in jail for traffic violations and told his cellmate he was going to kill someone when he got out. He also offered the cellmate money to be his driver for the murder because his eyes were messed up.

On January 15th, 2002, Welch attended a birthday party and told his brother he might be “taking care of business tonight.” He also told his sister he was “going to pick up some money, and he’d be right back.” They would never see him alive again.

Gerald got home from work at 6:45 pm that night; 30 minutes later, he called 911 and told them an intruder had shot his wife. He also told them he shot the intruder.

When authorities arrived, they saw Welch face down in the driveway of one of Gerald’s neighbors.

Jill’s body was inside the home near the living room. Jill died from a gunshot to the head. Welch was shot five times and died from a gunshot to the chest.

Investigation

Gerald was interviewed and told the officer he was having dinner with Jill. He went to the bathroom and suddenly heard her scream his name, followed by two gunshots. Gerald claimed he saw a man at the end of the hall, so he ran and got two revolvers from his bedroom. He then chased the man down and shot him.

He claimed he did not know who the intruder was but claimed the car he saw in the driveway looked like it belonged to Welch. He declared he didn’t know Welch that well and called him a thief and addict. He also said he hadn’t seen him in over a year, something Welch’s family later said was untrue.

During a second interview, Gerald told authorities that after hearing the shots and retrieving his two guns, he saw Welch coming toward him, and they had a shootout in the hallway before he chased Welch down and killed him.

He also said he was “misquoted” during his first interview when he spoke about his relationship with Welch. He claimed he had known him for over twenty years, but they weren’t close. He said Welch was only his best man at his second wedding because he couldn’t find anyone else.

When investigators asked Gerald about his finances, he claimed he received $333,000 from selling his business and $140,000 from somewhere else. He also said he “had money.” He told police he kept business records at home, but authorities found additional documents at a second location.

They learned that he had just over 1 million dollars in life insurance on Jill at the time of her murder.

By August 2002, Hand was in custody for two counts of murder and three counts of conspiracy to commit murder. He tried to bust out of prison in November 2002 and was charged with escape.

Legal Proceedings

When Gerald went to trial on May 8th, 2003, his ex-cellmate testified that Gerald told him he killed Welch because Welch wanted double the $25,000 they had agreed to. He also testified that Gerald planned to use a self-defense claim to beat the case.

His plan failed, and he was convicted on all six counts. He was given two death sentences.

His execution has been scheduled multiple times, but issues obtaining drugs have led to delays.

He was supposed to be executed via lethal injection on June 17th, 2026, but Ohio has had trouble getting lethal injection drugs. On January 3oth, 2026, MecuryCountyOutlook reported that Ohio Governor Mike DeWine pushed his execution back to April 18th, 2029.