Man convicted and sentenced in death of 92-year-old woman in 2017

Rodney McQueen/Source: Montgomery County Detention Facility

The man accused of a home invasion and brutal slaying of a 92-year-old woman in 2017 has been convicted and sentenced.

A Montgomery County jury found Rodney McQueen guilty of two counts of capital murder in the the death of Mary Lou Gedel.

According to District Attorney Daryl Bailey, McQueen broken into Gedel’s home on September 28, 2017 with the intent of stealing her belongings, which he planned to trade on the streets for drugs.

Bailey said McQueen attacked and tortured Gedel using a brass lamp to break multiple bones in her face and crushed her voice box. In addition, Bailey said McQueen savagely ravaged the side of the victim’s face with a beer bottle he brought into her home and sliced her ear off.

Mary Lou Gedel/Source: Montgomery County DA’s Office

“It breaks my heart to know that Ms. Mary Lou Gedel, a vibrant, active woman who selflessly helped her fellow seniors and other Montgomery County citizens in need, experienced such unfathomable atrocities during her last moments on this
earth,” said Bailey. “The level of brutality inflicted upon her was senseless and heinously cruel. Rodney McQueen will spend the rest of his life behind bars, but he deserves to be put to death. Unfortunately, the current state of the law would not allow my Office to seek the death
penalty.”

Immediately after the jury rendered its verdict, District Judge J.R. Gaines sentenced McQueen to life in prison without the possibility of parole on both counts.

McQueen was immediately taken into custody.