What happened to Sherri Malarik? Details explored ahead of Dateline NBC

Sherri Malarik was a Navy petty officer who was found deceased after being fatally shot inside her minivan in 2001. The following case took a complex turn and took more than a decade to be solved.

Episode 25 of season 32 of Dateline on NBC will be delving into the details of the mysterious murder case of Sherri Malarik when it airs on Friday, February 2, on NBC. The synopsis of the episode reads,

"Navy petty officer and devoted mother Sherri Malarik is found shot to death in her minivan after she disappeared. The case remains cold until new revelations and old memories resurface, dividing the Florida family. In Friday’s two-hour Dateline, her grown-up children speak out about the two-decade search for answers."

This article takes a look into who Sherri Malarik was and how the events of her shocking murder had transpired ahead of the Dateline episode titled The Sleepover.

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Navy petty officer Sherri Malarik was found shot dead inside her minivan, and her killer was not arrested for another two decades

Sherri Malarik was a US Navy petty officer who worked as an air traffic controller with the US Navy. In September 2001, Sherri was found dead inside her minivan. She was 34 years old at the time of her passing.

Her body was found in the passenger floorboard of her Dodge Caravan minivan, which was parked at the Cantonment Winn Dixie parking lot. As per the reports of Pensacola News Journal, the medical examiner confirmed two gunshot wounds to Sherri's head, and it was also confirmed that the bullets belonged to a .25 caliber gun. Her brother-in-law initially found Sherri when her family members were frantically looking for her as she went missing the night before. He recounts his shocking discovery to Andrea Canning of Dateline, where he said the following,

"When I got to the van, I saw blood, I touch her, she was cold."

He immediately made a call to 911 where he said,

"My sister-in-law is dead ma'am."

Sherri had stepped outside her house on September 21, 2001. However, she never returned, which led to a lot of concern from her children. Sherri had five children, a son Jacob from her previous marriage, another son Gregory was her husband's (also named Gregory) son from his previous marriage. The couple had three more children together who were all under the age of six at the time of Sherri's death.

Tera (her daughter) and Jacob, Sherri's kids, were saddened to hear the terrible news. Just eleven years old at the time, Jacob recalled being cold when he heard the horrific details. They were in shock and grief over their mother's unexpected death. He narrated his shock to Dateline, saying,

“Immediately I just kind of went numb."

Authorities had arrested Sherri Malarik's husband, Gregory Malarik, when she was found shot. However, inconclusive evidence led to him being freed of any charges. It was in 2020 that Gregory Malarik was arrested for the murder of his then-wife Sherri Malarik, and he was charged with second-degree murder.

In a shocking turn of events, the first trial of Gregory Malarik was deemed a mistrial by the court, citing the failure on the part of the jury to reach a unanimous decision. A subsequent trial followed in October 2023. However, he was found not guilty of first-degree pre-meditated murder and declared a free man.

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Episode 25 of season 32 of Dateline NBC will air on February 2, 2024, at 9/8 c and discuss Sherri Malarik's case in detail.