A Prince George’s County man will spend decades in prison for killing the mother of his young son amid a battle for custody of the child.
Ruben Gilbert was convicted of second-degree murder for stabbing Michelle Dudley to death at their apartment in Laurel in January 2023.
“He truly, truly took a beautiful soul, a beautiful soul,” said her sister, Monica Dudley.
Dudley said her sister’s 1-year-old son with Gilbert was at the apartment when it happened.
“It’s always going to be an unimaginable pain,” Dudley said. “There’s going to forever be a void.”
Michelle Dudley ran out of the apartment to get help, according to charging documents. Neighbors saw her bleeding and begging for help.
Witnesses told detectives Gilbert stabbed himself in the neck and yelled, “Why? What did I do?”
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A judge sentenced Gilbert on Monday to serve 38 years in prison for the murder and another three years on a weapon charge.
“When you lose someone in the degree that we lost my sister, you’re always going to feel no amount of justice is going to be enough, but I do feel that every year that was handed down to Mr. Gilbert was fair,” Monica Dudley said.
She said her sister had a protective order.
“Brings me comfort knowing that now that he is incarcerated, that he doesn’t have the opportunity to ever do this to someone again,” Dudley said.
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She wants to advocate for victims of domestic violence.
“Hopefully, this will be an encouragement for other people that are going through this to break the silence, to speak up to get help before it’s too late,” she said.
