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A 79-year-old woman jailed for killing her terminally ill husband in a botched murder-suicide pact in 2023 has said she wouldn’t have done anything differently and would “accept the consequences”.
Three years ago this month, Ellen Gilland of New Smyrna Beach Florida She smuggled her husband Jerry’s gun into his Daytona Beach hospital room and fatally shot him in the head.
An hours-long standoff ensued, forcing staff and patients to shelter in place That was until police eventually threw a non-lethal explosive device into the room and detained Guillen.
The judge ultimately accepted Guillen’s claim Her actions were part of an agreement with her 77-year-old husbandbut sentenced her to one year in prison and twelve years of probation for spreading chaos and fear among bystanders.
Fox 35 Orlando Inquiry On whether she would change her behavior now, Gillan insisted: “There’s nothing else to do.”
Guillen reportedly told investigators that three weeks ago, she and her husband, Jerry, 77, agreed that she would kill him and then herself if his condition worsened.
“I know what’s coming. I know how hard it will be to be without him. Not just my best friend, but all the things we did for each other…” she told Fox 35.
“In the 76 years before this happened, I had never been in trouble in my life and never intended to hurt anyone,” she added.
Speaking of her late husband, whom she had known since middle school, she said: “He was very supportive, very quiet, very generous. He was a lovely man.”
Guillen said she brought her husband’s old gun to the hospital, sat with him and talked for a while before killing him. But later, she discovered that she could not complete the suicide part of the plan.
However, when hospital staff entered the room, Guillen, who was clearly in severe distress, pointed a gun at them and told them to leave, beginning an armed standoff with police.
“Tell me what happened! I don’t want to hurt you!” an officer can be heard yelling in body camera footage.
“Things didn’t go the way I thought they would,” Gillan admitted in a later interview.
Guillen was initially charged with first-degree murder, but a jury reduced the charge. She ultimately pleaded no contest to manslaughter with a firearm, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and aggravated assault with a firearm on a law enforcement officer.
A nurse testified during trial After the murder, he was forced to quit his job because he “no longer felt safe” in hospital and suffered from “nightmares”.
Guillen told Fox 35 she had a hard time in prison and six weeks into her sentence, she suffered a heart attack due to the stress. She spent the rest of the time in the infirmary until she was discharged in November 2025.
“Most of the guards were very — not very friendly, but very accepting,” she said. “Some of them were very rude, shouting and swearing.”
Guillen is now out of prison and doing court-ordered community service, which she does once a month for as long as she is physically able. According to Fox 35, she recently started working at a local animal shelter.
“I’m accepting the consequences,” she told the outlet. “I have to figure out how to survive this.”
She also told the media that she would try to live out the rest of her life without her husband, while advocating for some form of legalized assisted suicide.
“I don’t want people to feel sorry for me. I did what I did,” she said.
If you are in pain, or struggling to cope, you can speak privately to a Samaritan on 116 123 (UK and ROI) or email jo@samaritans.orgor visit Samaritan Website to find details of your nearest branch If you live in the US and you or someone you know needs mental health assistance right now, please call or text 988, or visit 988lifeline.org Access online chat through the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. This is a free, confidential crisis hotline open to everyone 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If you are in another country, you can visit www.befrienders.org Find a helpline near you