The Other Dr. Gilmer: Two Men, a Murder, and an Unlikely Fight for Justice

Abstract

We’ve all taken an inquisitive pause when we encountered someone with the same name as us, but for Drs. Benjamin and Vince Gilmer (no relation), what would ordinarily be a coincidence was the start of a life-changing journey. The Other Dr. Gilmer tells the story of Dr. Benjamin Gilmer’s fight for justice for his namesake, Dr. Vince Gilmer. Dr. Benjamin Gilmer was a family physician fresh out of residency when he began work at Cane Creek, a rural primary care clinic, in the mountains of western North Carolina. He was aware that the founder of the clinic, Dr. Vincent Gilmer, was serving a life sentence for the June 28, 2004 murder of his elderly father, Dalton Gilmer. At first, Dr. Benjamin Gilmer thought he would quickly explain the coincidence to his patients and move on. Gradually, Benjamin Gilmer started hearing stories from his patients and staff about Vince Gilmer. The stories painted a picture of a gentle, kind man, who often refused payment for his services and sponsored the local kids’ baseball team even though he had no children of his own. Despite this perspective, in the book Dr. Benjamin Gilmer does not shy away from the details of the murder. He recounts almost moment for moment how Vince Gilmer strangled his father, dumped his body, and cut off his fingers to prevent the body from being identified. He reflects on the contradiction between the crime and the gentle, caring family physician described by patients and colleagues. The book discusses Dr. Vince Gilmer’s report of severe physical and sexual abuse, recent head injury, and recent SSRI discontinuation. Proceeding pro se, Dr. Vince Gilmer discussed his history of physical and sexual abuse at the hands of his father and alleged that his father reminded him of the abuse and attempted to assault him sexually on the night of the killing. At first, Benjamin Gilmer was afraid of Vince Gilmer, but he was driven to learn more about the case. Working with NPR reporter Sarah Koenig, on an episode of This American Life, Benjamin Gilmer began to investigate the case and met Dr. Vince Gilmer. Dr. Vince Gilmer exhibited gait abnormalities, a movement disorder, word-finding difficulty, and hallucinations, among other symptoms. He then visited Dr. Vince Gilmer again with Dr. Steve Buie, a psychiatrist and the residency training director at the Mountain Area Health Education Center’s psychiatry residency program. Dr. Buie suggested the possibility that Dr. Vince Gilmer could be experiencing Huntington’s Disease, a diagnosis subsequently confirmed by genetic testing. Yet when the medical mystery was solved, the fight for justice was only beginning as Dr. Benjamin Gilmer realized that a man was in prison with a degenerative neuropsychiatric condition. The first thing to know as a reader about this book’s organization and pacing is that it moves. It’s as compelling as any mystery novel I’ve read. The book begins with Dr. Benjamin Gilmer’s story of starting to practice at Cane Creek and gradually introduces the unseen (at first) character in the book, Dr. Vince Gilmer, through the stories his patients tell about him. The book then progresses rapidly to medical mystery as Dr. Benjamin Gilmer reviews Dr. Vincent Gilmer’s trial and the initial opinion that he was malingering his symptoms. These excerpts are juxtaposed with the current picture of an obviously ill man. Once the diagnosis is made, the story moves seamlessly from fast-paced medical mystery to a plea for compassion for a man in prison with a severe neuropsychiatric disease. The book concludes with reflections on the treatment of people with mental illness in prison and the lack of adequate psychiatric care in many correctional settings. In addition to his own insights, Dr. Benjamin Gilmer details interviews with people who were involved in the original case, legal advocates, and researchers. Dr. Benjamin Gilmer invites the reader into his life through this memorable first-person narrative. As readers we spend time with him from the exam rooms at Cane Creek to the farmer’s market in Asheville. We journey with him to Wallens Ridge Prison in