Gene Gilbert's house

This is the house where Gene Gilbert murdered his family.

It is situated at 206 Market Street in the small community of Delmar, Iowa.

On January 3rd, 1981, his wife, Bonnie, and their five children were found shot to death at this house on the corner of Market Street and Ridge Avenue.

The bodies were discovered after the police arrived to inform Bonnie that her husband had committed suicide in South Dakota.

A couple of days earlier, Gilbert had murdered his wife, two children, and three stepchildren. After killing his family, he drove for eight hours to his father's house in Yale, South Dakota, where he shot himself with a revolver.

Following Gilbert's suicide, a group of deputies were sent to his house on Market Street to deliver the bad news to his wife. However, when they arrived, it seemed as though no one was home.

After asking around and learning that nobody in the community had seen Bonnie or her kids, it started to dawn on them that something wasn't right.

Gilbert was dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, and his wife Bonnie wasn't responding to phone calls or knocks on her door.

Fearing the worst, two of the deputies decided to return to the house and force their way in.

Once inside, they called out to see if anyone was home. However, there was no response—only silence.

After going upstairs, they found the bodies of Bonnie and her five children. They had all been shot in the head with a pistol.

Gilbert was an unemployed recluse who suffered mental trauma while he was serving in the Vietnam War. Due to a back injury, he found it difficult to hold down a job—a situation that put the family under considerable financial strain.

During the investigation, it was revealed that he was under a great deal of stress and that he had threatened to kill his wife and kids during the summer of 1980. Bonnie, whom he married in 1977, was reportedly afraid of him.

When the police conducted a ballistics test, they discovered that the revolver Gilbert shot himself with was the same gun that had been used during the murders.

Although he left a suicide note, he did not explain his motive for killing his family.

In fact, he didn't even mention them at all. Instead, he simply apologized for "not being much of a son."

Photos

Photos of the house and other related images.

206 Market Street

This is a "then and now" image of Gilbert's former house. The Google Street View image at the bottom was taken in December 2021.

When the bodies were discovered, the authorities backed two ambulances up to the front door.

Although the neighbors hadn't seen Bonnie or the kids for a number of days, they didn't think that it was strange. At the time, the weather was so cold that most people didn't venture outside their homes for very long.

The victims were Bonnie Gilbert (34), Dawn Roling (13), Michelle Roling (10), Jason Roling (8), Gene Gilbert (2), and Rachelle Gilbert, who was just 10 months old.

Bonnie had given birth to Dawn, Michelle, and Jason during an earlier marriage.

Google Street View

This Google Street View image shows the front of the house, which faces Market Street.

The property website Zillow shows that the property was built in 1910.