New Albany man gets life sentence for stalking, killing estranged wife

An Indiana man has received a life prison sentence for stalking his estranged wife to Florida, shooting her and burying her body in Tennessee, court records show.

Jarvis Wayne Madison, 62, of New Albany, was sentenced Monday in Orlando, Florida, federal court, according to the court records. He pleaded guilty in March to one count of interstate stalking resulting in death.

According to court documents, Madison and his wife Rachael were in Indiana in November 2016 when he threatened to kill her and fired a gun at her. The 44-year-old woman escaped and went to stay with relatives in Ormond Beach, Florida, just north of Daytona Beach.

Madison left multiple texts and voicemails for his wife over the next two weeks, officials said. He eventually found her in Florida and began to conduct surveillance on his wife at her relatives’ home. Madison confronted his estranged wife after watching her leave the house alone to go jogging, officials said. He shot her three times and then left the area with her body in his SUV.

Madison spent a night with a friend in Buckhannon, West Virginia, where he bought a shovel and a tarp, investigators said. He then drove to a remote area near Knoxville, Tennessee, and buried the body in a shallow grave, officials said.

Authorities had begun investigating shortly after Rachael Madison’s disappearance, and Jarvis Madison was arrested days later in Louisville, Kentucky. Madison directed investigators to his wife’s body, and a gun was recovered from his SUV, officials said

Madison’s friend in West Virginia, Belenda Sandy, 60, was previously sentenced to seven years and three months in federal prison after pleading guilty to obstruction of justice.