In the 48 Hours episode “Moment of Truth,” Erin Moriarty investigates the March 3, 2014 murder of Patrick Gilhuley, a former NYPD officer who was working security jobs — including once as a bodyguard to celebrities Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. Gilhuley, 51, was shot by his ex-girlfriend Virginia Vertetis in her home in Mount Olive, New Jersey. Vertetis, a former AT&T executive who left the corporate world to become an elementary school teacher, says she shot Gilhuley in self-defense. She claimed Gilhuley attacked her inside her home. In court, Vertetis said: “He was going to kill me.” Prosecutors claimed Vertetis sought revenge after Gilhuley broke-up with her a month before his death. Vertetis shot Gilhuley five times with his .38 revolver.
Gilhuley’s mother, Marilyn Gilhuley, testified that she received eight phone calls from Vertetis in the month leading up to the shooting – while her son was trying to end his relationship with Vertetis. Marilyn Gilhuley told the court that Vertetis was crying when she called and she told Vertetis she could call “as long as we don’t discuss Patrick.” Their last conversation was five days before Patrick Gilhuley was killed. In May 2017, Vertetis was sentenced to 30 years in prison and is not eligible for parole. If Vertetis lives to serve her full sentence, she would be 82 when released from jail and would then serve five years’ probation.
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After her guilty verdict, Vertetis started the process to appeal the murder conviction and made her case to the New Jersey Department of Education’s Board of Examiners to not revoke her teaching certificates. From prison, she wrote that she was one course away from earning a master’s degree in administrative leadership and had passed the principal’s exam. She also pointed out that “there were no indications the incident was related to her history as an elementary school teacher.” In May 2018, the Board of Examiners did revoke the teaching certifications of Vertetis. 48 Hours airs Saturdays at 10pm on CBS.
