Barbara Scott: The grandma who buried her husband in the garden
Killer GranniesSometimes truth is darker than fiction. That’s certainly the case with Barbara Scott, whose shocking crime in 2012 left her small Florida community stunned. A grandmother with a quiet, ordinary exterior, murdered her 77-year-old husband, Benny Scott, and buried him in the backyard of their Lake Alfred home.
But the question on everyone’s lips is why did the 67-year-old granny become a killer? What would make a popular community member murder her own husband?
Ahead of the first episode of Killer Grannies, available from Wednesday, 21st January on Crime+Investigation, join us as we take a closer look at one of the cases featured in the series.
Benny Scott died at home, peacefully…
…Or that’s what his wife Barbara told family. She notified them that it had been an accident, but then later claimed it was suicide. The murderer couldn’t seem to get her lies in order. Luckily, detectives became sceptical of Mrs Scott’s stories once they began investigating the couple’s home.
Their attention quickly turned to the garden and they started digging. After getting through four and a half feet of soil, the police discovered Benny’s body wrapped in a covering.
'We get down…four and a half feet, and we get a hint of the smell of decomposition,' now-retired Polk County Sheriff’s Department detective David Clark told news outlets.
The scene was scary. Mr Scott had a bullet wound to the head, and his hands and feet were bound. 'It looks like a professional hit,' recalled Detective Clark. What had seemed like a quiet domestic life hid a calculated and violent act.
Selling Benny’s belongings
Not only did digging up the Mr Scott’s body help the case, but the couple’s peers started to recount the lead-up to Benny’s death. Some told police they hadn’t seen or heard from Benny for months, while others told authorities that Barbara was seen selling his possessions in a garage sale.
This is when Barbara explained that they were separated. She told reporter Mike Neeson: 'He’s having a blast with his friends, and he just realised that he was not cut out to be in Florida.'
Barbara told them that their marriage was over.
The motive
The next question on everyone’s mind was why? Why did Barbara kill her husband? While she initially offered shifting explanations for Benny’s death, investigators pieced together a different story. Although the full extent of her motive has never been entirely clear to the public, evidence suggested financial disputes and marital tensions may have played a role.
Detectives also discovered from her daughter Sonya, that at the time of Benny’s death, Barbara had been under a lot of mental stress. She had been caring for her mother, stepfather and Benny.
Whatever the motive, the premeditated nature of the murder and the disposal of Benny’s body highlighted an eerie level of coldness.
How the investigation unfolded
Police approached the case with caution, meticulously excavating the garden to preserve potential evidence. The discovery of the gunshot wound and restraints on Benny’s body immediately reframed Barbara’s story from a domestic tragedy to a homicide investigation.
But that wasn’t all that piqued the interest of the authorities. It seemed that the well-liked grandmother had a dark past and Barbara’s criminal antics were not confined to her later years.
Reports indicate a troubling history with previous partners. Her ex-husband, James Melvin, died under suspicious circumstances decades earlier. While authorities never tied her definitively to that death, the pattern of her relationships raises unsettling questions about her past. Locals who knew her described her as charming but controlling, and some former acquaintances hinted at a volatile streak.
The truth is uncovered
According to the police, Mrs Scott stole a gun from her son-in-law, Gary. They discovered that the married couple had been to Oklahoma and that a handgun had disappeared. The description of the gun matched the one found at the crime scene.
Now, authorities had the murder weapon, they presented their findings to the court, and they found the suspect guilty of murder. Barbara Scott was arrested in April 2024 was convicted of first-degree murder and received a life sentence.
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