'Slit her throat from ear to ear': Co-suspect's ex-wife says her husband was a killer

While Gary Bennett has spent the last 18 years in jail for killing Eva Martin, the wife of his co-defendant told a courtroom on Wednesday she knows Bennett didn’t kill the victim.

“Because Gary is a gentle man,” Tara Lindsey McDermott said.

In 2000, police charged both Bennett and Andrew Lindsey with killing Martin. Bennett was convicted of murder, while Lindsey took a plea deal and testified that Bennett committed the murder.

Bennett maintains his innocence, and a judge recently granted his request for a new trial. That process is ongoing.

On Friday, Bennett’s lawyer, Amy Lawrence, argued before Horry County Circuit Court Judge Larry Hyman for complete tapes of an interview at a police station between Lindsey and his wife, McDermott. McDermott and Lindsey are now divorced.

The defense claims there is a tape of a conversation between the married couple that included the two having sex. The state says that the tape doesn’t exist.

When McDermott, a diminutive woman with bright red hair, went to the Horry County Police department in 2000, she was told that Lindsey wanted to talk to her and their conversation would be recorded, she said.

“Did you kill Marie?” McDermott told the court she asked her husband.

“And he said ‘yes.’”

“I said, I asked him ‘why?’”

“He said he wanted the money from the Taco Bell and all they wanted was the keys and the combination.”

The killing was over money from the fast-food eatery where Martin worked, lawyers said. Lindsey reportedly told his wife he and Bennett were at Martin’s residence when Lindsey threatened Martin’s life.

Lindsey allegedly told McDermott that he instructed Bennett to hold the victim while he raped her. That is when Lindsey killed Martin, McDermott said.

"Andrew slit her throat from ear to ear and left her to die,” said McDermott, as she fought through tears.

Gary was present, but he didn’t play a part In the killing, she said. She got a vibe from Gary that she never felt from Lindsey, she added.

Upon cross-examination, McDermott said she never told police in 2000 when Lindsey reportedly confessed. In fact, she didn’t tell anybody for more than a dozen years.

Senior Assistant Solicitor Nancy Livesay asked McDermott about a recent conversation between McDermott, Livesay and a state investigator. McDermott denied telling that group that Lindsey said Bennett cut the victim’s throat.

Former police officer Paul Partin said he recorded the 2000 interview and at one point, police officers made a comment that McDermott and Lindsey had sex.

At several points during the hearing, Judge Larry Hyman became quite animated trying to keep the sides focused on one issue. Several times he implored for direct statements from lawyers about whether the tape exists.

Livesay said the state has provided every tape and has no other evidence.

“We have turned over absolutely everything and made absolutely everything available to her,” Livesay said.

This story was originally published June 15, 2018 at 1:53 PM with the headline "'Slit her throat from ear to ear': Co-suspect's ex-wife says her husband was a killer."