Irish Traveller indicted in housekeeper’s slaying in Colleyville

A 27-year-old Irish Traveller has been indicted in the fatal stabbing of a housekeeper in Colleyville last year.

Bernard Joseph Gorman was indicted Friday on one count of murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder.

Officials have said Gorman, known as “Little Joe,” and his father, Gerard “Joe” Gorman, stalked Anita Fox, 69, for days before killing her Sept. 23 in a home in Colleyville where she worked.

Joe Gorman, who died of apparently natural causes before he could be arrested, is believed to have stabbed Fox, and his son to have driven the getaway vehicle.

Investigators say the pair killed Fox hoping to collect proceeds from a $1 million life insurance policy that Fox didn’t know existed. A federal investigation of possible insurance fraud is ongoing.

The father and son are Irish Travellers, members of a secretive, nomadic group that often makes money on the road in blue-collar trades such as roofing and asphalt sealing.

Little Joe Gorman is free on bail awaiting trial. He must wear an ankle monitor and remain in Tarrant County as part of his bail conditions.

In addition to the criminal case, Fox’s death has sparked numerous lawsuits.

Her daughter and son-in-law, Virginia and Mark Buckland, have filed four lawsuits between them, accusing three insurance companies of failing to pay millions of dollars owed on life insurance policies that one or both had taken out on Fox.

The suits indicate that, in all, Fox had about $5 million in life insurance coverage at the time of her death.

Fox’s son, Al Fox III, has filed a motion to intervene in his sister’s lawsuit, arguing that he is the “rightful recipient” of the insurance proceeds as his mother’s nearest relative and that his sister and her husband are “negligently responsible for the death of the insured.”

Al Fox has also sued seeking damages for the wrongful death of his mother against Joe Gorman, his estate and an insurance company with which Joe Gorman had his own $1 million insurance policy. Al Fox’s attorney also sought an injunction to prevent Farmers Insurance Group from paying benefits from the life insurance policy to Joe Gorman’s widow.

This story was originally published August 7, 2015 at 5:13 PM with the headline "Irish Traveller indicted in housekeeper’s slaying in Colleyville."