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Joshua T. Gamble, 40, pleaded guilty to murdering his wife, Tina Gamble, and was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 15 years in Jefferson County, Ohio, on October 17, 2025.

Tina Gamble was beaten at the couple's home on Township Road 1308 between Smithfield and Dillonvale on August 29, 2022, and died of her injuries. Her age was reported as both 56 and 57. Police found her covered in blood, alive but unresponsive, with shallow breathing. At the plea hearing, Prosecutor Jane Hanlin listed skull fractures, bleeding around the brain, a fractured collarbone, nearly all her ribs broken, bruising to both eyes, and abrasions and bruises to her scalp, face and neck. The worst injury was a chop-style wound that split her scalp and skull. The weapon was a mattock-type garden tool, like a pickaxe with a sledge on one end, which Gamble called "a very handy garden tool."

Gamble, of Jefferson County, was 37 when taken into custody in August 2022. Sheriff Fred Abdalla Jr. said his office had previously responded to disturbances and domestic issues at the residence. On August 30, 2022, Abdalla said Gamble was being held in his wife's death but had not yet been charged. Hanlin announced charges of murder and tampering with evidence on August 31, 2022. A Jefferson County grand jury indicted him on both charges in September 2022. Investigators alleged that he tried to wash the weapon they believed was used in the attack.

Hanlin told the court that investigators interviewed Gamble through the night for some three or four hours. He showed virtually no reaction and no tears, never asked whether his wife was alive, and said he did not know who killed her and had never touched her. He said she fell down the stairs and he dragged her up them. He also claimed she attacked him with a tomahawk and hit him 14 to 16 times. Hanlin said there was no blood on him or the steps, a pot of flowers at the bottom of the stairway remained in place, and he had no marks on him. She said the state never believed it was self-defense.

Seven days later, Hanlin said, Gamble asked to meet with the sheriff. As the sheriff tried to read him his rights, Gamble said, "I'm guilty. I'm going to jail for life, and I'm dying in prison." He said he hit her "everywhere." The first two hits with the garden tool put her out, he said, and he then "went to work on her when she was on the ground." He said they had argued because she would not sign divorce papers. He repeatedly referred to being on house arrest and said he had to choose between breaking house arrest and breaking almost every bone in her body. The recording has two sessions: the overnight interview that began on August 30, 2022, and a second interview on September 7, 2022. In the second, Gamble describes striking his wife with the sledge end of the tool while standing, using both hands.

On Friday, October 17, 2025, days before his trial was set to begin, Gamble appeared before Judge Michelle Miller in Jefferson County Common Pleas Court for a hearing on pretrial motions and announced he would plead guilty. He pleaded guilty to murder, an unclassified felony under Ohio law, and the state dismissed the tampering with evidence count. Hanlin said the facts did not meet the statutory requirements for aggravated murder, which would have allowed life without parole or the death penalty.

Miller imposed the sentence that day, the maximum for murder under Ohio law, with credit for 1,114 days served. If paroled, Gamble would be under community control for five years. He told the court, "I have nothing to say."

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Part 2 of 3 of the recording described above.

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Part 3 of 3 of the recording described above.