By Mike FinneyDOVER — Christmas Eve 1987 was a tragic day for the Gibson family, who experienced crimes that left Kent County residents in shock.
That morning, Joseph and Beverly Gibson were murdered at their home near Hazlettville.
And their baby, Matthew Gibson, was kidnapped.
It was his sister, 5-year-old Rebecca Gibson, who discovered the scene.
Despite those grisly events, the incident may have saved other lives because it led to the county’s establishment of Enhanced 911 about a year later. The phone system is designed to provide clear location information to first responders, so they can quickly find distressed people and property.
Back in 1987, young Rebecca tried to call her grandmother after she woke just before 7 a.m. and found her father lying in the kitchen in a pool of blood.
However, she mistakenly dialed a neighbor’s home, who then called 911. Dispatchers from the Kent County 911 Center were subsequently able to contact Rebecca at her home, but, because the neighbor didn't know the Gibsons' address, they spent around 45 minutes on the phone with the girl, seeking to ascertain the location of her residence.
Dispatch was eventually able to pinpoint the Gibson home, and police discovered the bodies of Mr. and Ms. Gibson. Responders also found that their baby, Matthew, was missing.
It wasn’t until Jan. 7, 1988, that Richard and Joyce Lynch of Houston were arrested by Delaware State Police in connection with the killings. Matthew was found safe in the Lynches’ home.
During their ensuing trial, Mr. Lynch was acquitted, but his wife was found guilty of murder. She was sentenced to two life terms and is serving her time in Arizona.
Fast-forward almost 40 years and Rebecca (Gibson) Schaller can easily recall what transpired that Christmas, as well as the emergency workers on the other end of that extended phone call.
“I do remember placing the call and kind of being necessarily confused,” she said. “I was very grateful. It was a turning point for the state of Delaware, and we updated our 911 addresses and things changed with the hospitals.
“All our roads were actually named in that process, so it’s really neat to see how things have developed. It was a big learning experience.”
The case also made quite an impact on the staff of the 911 Center, then located in the tight confines of the old Kent County Courthouse basement in Dover.
“On Dec. 24, 1987, day shift started like any other, but no one knew of the tragedy that was about to besiege them,” said Wayne Wheeler of Felton. “There were five heroes that day that handled the call: Leroy Dear, (the center’s manager); (the late) Ed Lewis, (a dispatcher); Doreen Pink and Terry Whitham, both of Kentcom.
“This incident would have a rippling effect throughout Delaware and a family torn apart by a heinous crime. (Dispatchers) stayed within a matter of feet from each other, so everybody was cross-trained to take a fire call or ambulance call or police call or something like that.”
The discussion with Rebecca had a profound effect on those employees.
“I can’t even describe it. With me, it just makes me cry,” Mr. Wheeler added. “Here, we had a 5-year-old girl on the phone who knew nobody, who had got a phone call from total strangers because we had to call her because she’d called some woman by accident.
“I just thank God that woman took (Rebecca’s call) and followed through on it.”
Mr. Whitham, of Dover, was one of the dispatchers who tried to comfort the young girl.
“Given the situation, it was totally unbelievable given what she had to deal with,” he recalled. “She had her (other) brother there, and her dad was laying there in the kitchen in a pool of blood.
“And, not knowing where mom was at the time, we were trying to keep her occupied and, at the same time, trying to extract information that would facilitate us in trying to find out where she lived.”
Mr. Whitham noted that the Gibson incident occurred before the Enhanced 911 features, like addressing, were in place. It was back when Delaware used “RD” box numbers.
“My old address was RD7 Box 69B, and trying to tell somebody where’s RD7 Box 69B was ... time-consuming, trying to extract information from folks — in particular, county route numbers and private lanes and those without an address on the mailbox. … It was challenging,” he continued.
“Honestly, I didn’t think the case would ever get solved.”
Another staffer, Dover’s Dickie Dempsey, remembers their training kicking in.
“They kept their wits about them,” he said. “They did what they had been trained to do, and it was just something that probably, once in a lifetime, will happen to somebody.”
Mr. Whitham agreed, saying, “I was in 911 for like 36 years, and there are several calls that you will never forget, ever, and that was one of them. It was Christmas Eve, and the very first call in the morning was that one, and it started the shift off bad.”
In 1989, those same Kent County dispatchers played the entirety of Rebecca’s call to the Delaware General Assembly, and its members voted unanimously to adopt Enhanced 911.
“I had to do the tape for court,” Mr. Wheeler said. “That tape would rip the heart out of the most hardened person there is.”
Celebrating a 50th
anniversary with an old friend
Last month, several employees and former dispatchers of the Kent County 911 Center, now found in a more spacious building at 911 Public Safety Blvd. in Dover, gathered at the Cheswold Volunteer Fire Co., commemorating the center’s 50th anniversary.
They had a special guest: Rebecca Schaller.
“To me, that event was honoring some of our unsung heroes,” Ms. Schaller said afterward. “It was also getting to understand what they go through on a daily basis.”
Mr. Whitham and others who were on duty that December day in 1987 were shocked to see her.
“I was totally taken back when I heard that she would be present,” he said. “The funny thing is, Rebecca is one of my sister-in-law’s nieces. ... And I didn’t realize that until after the (1987) call, and I discussed it with my sister-in-law, and she said, ‘Well, Rebecca’s related to me.’
“I’d seen Rebecca a couple of months after that, when she was still relatively young. I didn’t see or have any contact with her since then.”
Mr. Wheeler was also surprised.
“When we got done the 50th-anniversary event, I was drained,” he said. “I couldn’t think anymore. It was nice. All the guys — and there was a couple of girls, too — we were a very close-knit group.
“It was one of them deals where, if you’re going to mess with one, then you’re going to mess with the whole group. Every time (dispatchers) sit down, they become heroes. Nobody knows that.”
Mr. Dempsey added that things were a lot different back in the old courthouse basement.
“We were temporarily put in the basement in 1973, and it lasted 20-something years, I guess,” he said, with a laugh. “The old building still brings back a lot of good memories. We’d have a bat come down and visit us sometimes, out of the bell tower, I guess.
“The bell would also get stuck sometimes, at around 3 o’clock in the morning, ringing. Well, somebody would call the Levy Court commissioner, who would then call us and tell us to go up there and shut that bell off — and that was a spooky thing to do.”
Coming full circle
Ms. Schaller’s daughter, Sara Schaller, recently told her mom that she’s considering becoming a 911 dispatcher, which seems fitting for a family that basically reinvented emergency response in Kent County.
“Over this past summer, she rode along with the paramedics, and she actually sat in and worked with the dispatchers a little bit,” Rebecca said. “So, it’s kind of neat to see the back end of that, as well.”
Sara’s job prospect also turned into a meeting between Mr. Wheeler, Rebecca and her family.
“A friend of mine who works at the 911 Center called me up, and he said, ‘Hey, guess who’s going to be here this weekend?’ And I said, ‘Who?’ He says, ‘Rebecca Gibson’s daughter. She wants to be a 911 dispatcher,’” Mr. Wheeler said.
“I told him I never got to meet the family, and he said, ‘I’ll see if I can arrange it.’ So, I got to meet Rebecca and her two brothers last winter, and then, when this (anniversary) transpired, I got back in contact with her.”
Over its half-century, the Kent County 911 Center has gone the distance, now taking countywide 911 emergency calls and providing dispatching and centralized communications for 18 volunteer fire departments and 13 emergency medical services agencies.
Additionally, by the end of the 20th century, nearly 93% of the U.S. population was covered by some type of 911 service — 95% of it via Enhanced 911.
“The E911 system is still growing, with new features constantly being added,” Mr. Wheeler said. “Many lives have been saved with the E911.
“The Gibson family gave up the most. Their mother and father killed, an infant sibling being taken from their brother and sister. The surviving Gibsons should know that their parents’ deaths were not in vain. The system was hurried along, quicker than it would have been, and saved many lives.”
Mr. Wheeler also provided some advice to new and potential dispatchers.
“I say to you newer dispatchers, when you sit down to your console, just remember that Joseph and Beverly Gibson are a part of every piece of equipment you use, and they are looking down on you to not only use the equipment to its fullest potential but to use your brain and gut because, in this business, nothing is black and white.”
Staff writer Mike Finney can be reached at 302-741-8230 or mfinney@iniusa.org.
Follow @MikeFinneyDSN on X.
