Who was Sherri Malarik and what happened to her?

SUBURBAN mom Sherri Malarik was last seen alive on September 21, 2001, only to be found the next morning, dead in her minivan in the parking lot of a Winn-Dixie.

The mysterious circumstances surrounding Sherri Malarik's death made headlines for over two decades, culminating in a two-hour Dateline exposé, The Sleepover, on February 2, 2024.

Who was Sherri Malarik?

From an outsider's perspective, Sherri Malarik lived a relatively normal life in the Florida suburbs.

Malarik was a petty officer (PO) in the United States Navy.

Petty officers are typically ranked superior to seaman, and subordinate to more senior commissioned officers.

When compared to other military branches, petty officers typically have a similar rank to an army sergeant.

When Malarik wasn't working as an air traffic controller for the US Navy, she also dedicated her time to being a wife and devoted mother.

In the 1990s, she met Navy civilian officer Greg Malarik while the two were stationed in Bermuda.

At the time, Malarik had a son, Jacob, from her previous marriage.

Greg Malarik also had two children from previous relationships, an older daughter, and a son, Greg Jr.

After Malarik tied the knot with Greg in 1994, the couple welcomed three more children together, including Jay, Jamie, and Tera Malarik.

The couple later returned to the United States and settled down in Pensacola.

According to Jacob, Malarik's oldest son, his mother " loved music, dancing, and being a parent," as reported by NBC News.

On the night of September 21, 2001, Malarik was busy hosting a family sleepover for her and her sister's children.

Her children recalled her stepping outside of the house, reportedly to talk to her husband Greg.

Greg was in the backyard working on the family's minivan.

That was the last time Malarik was seen alive.

When Greg returned to the family home, he told the children that Malarik had gone to the store.

Jacob, then 11 years old, recalls Greg then going to the bathroom to take a shower.

Later that night, at around 9 pm, Jennifer Spohn, a woman whom Greg was having an affair with, stopped by the house to return a lawnmower.

She would later change her story when questioned by authorities.

The sleepover carried on as usual, despite Malarik's mysterious disappearance.

The following day, Malarik was found – but she wasn't alive.

What happened to Sherri Malarik?

Despite the mysterious circumstances surrounding her disappearance from a family sleepover, it didn't take long to find Sherri Malarik.

The next morning, at around 8 am, Malarik was found dead.

Malarik's brother-in-law discovered her dead inside the family's minivan in a shopping center parking lot.

“When I got to the van, I saw blood,” he told Dateline.

"I touched her, [and] she was cold," he added.

After stumbling upon the gruesome crime scene, he quickly called 911.

"My sister-in-law is dead ma'am," he's heard saying in a recording of his call to the police.

When her oldest son heard the news, he recalls being shell-shocked.

“Immediately, I just kind of went numb,” Jacob told Dateline.

Jacob heard the news from his stepfather, Greg.

Greg Malarik had held a "family meeting" to inform the children of their mother's passing.

Jacobs recalls that Greg "offered them no consolation" despite the tragic news – and the ages of his and Sherri's young children.

Investigators were able to confirm that Malarik's cause of death was two gunshot wounds to her head.

Evidence suggested that Malarik had been shot with a .25 caliber handgun.

Despite Greg Malarik being the prime suspect in her murder, police couldn't arrest or hold him due to lack of evidence.

Buddy NeSmith, an Escambia County Sheriff’s detective who investigated the killing, also suspected Jennifer Spohn, who Greg was having an affair with.

However, Spohn remained steadfast that her visit to the Malarik's home that night "was a coincidence," as she felt that Greg had "needed" the lawnmower back.

According to prosecutor Amy Shea of Florida’s First Judicial Circuit. Spohn "always gave the same account and said she knew nothing about Sherri’s murder" during her initial and follow-up interviews.

For decades, the case remained open, with no new evidence or updates.

Then, in March 2020, almost 19 years after Malarik was found, that all changed.

Has anyone been arrested in connection to her death?

On March 7, 2020, Greg Malarik was arrested and charged with second-degree murder.

The evidence against him was still shaky at best, tied to memories of Malarik's now-adult children who recalled the night's events to authorities.

There was no “smoking gun that’s gonna point to one person or another,” prosecutor Amy Shea said.

“It’s the circumstances," she added.

Once Greg was arrested, investigators offered Spohn a deal if she cooperated with the investigation.

They offered her full immunity from prosecution if she told the truth about what happened the night of Malarik's disappearance – and subsequently, her murder.

Spohn agreed, and for the first time in twenty years, told authorities what really happened that night.

Greg, who had gone through a divorce before, reportedly told Spohn that it would be "easier just to kill [Malarik]" than to divorce her.

“It’s nonsense,” Spohn said she told him.

“You don’t just kill your wife. And it’s not gonna be easier.”

Greg had reportedly instructed Spohn to meet him at the Winn-Dixie parking lot, where he had parked the family van.

She drove him home, and then the duo staggered their entrances.

According to Spohn, Malarik had wanted her to appear at the door to help establish his alibi.

He then gave her a bag containing clothes and a gun, and told her to get rid of them.

She recalls tossing the bags in a nearby river.

“I know what I did. I know it was wrong," she said.

"I made some bad decisions, but once you make that bad decision, there’s no going back. I’m sorry for what I did," she added.

After Malarik's death, Spohn continued to date Greg, and even briefly moved into the family's home in 2009.

She finally cut things off with Greg after leaving Florida in 2014.

In a shocking twist, even after revealing the truth to authorities, Greg's 2022 trial was declared a mistrial by the court.

The mistrial was reportedly due to the jury's failure to reach a unanimous decision.

In 2023, the state retried the case in front of a new jury, charging Greg with first-degree premeditated murder.

Just two days into the new trial, two jurors were removed from the jury panel after overhearing the court's security discussing the previous mistrial.

On October 13, 2023, a jury determined that Greg was not guilty in shooting and killing Sherri Malarik in 2001.

They believed that witness testimonies and evidence were inconclusive, and that the evidence had also been tampered with.

Greg Malarik is now a free man – again.

In an interview with Pensacola News Journal, Jacob recalls his disappointment at the jury's decision.

“As soon as [the jury] announced not guilty, I was very surprised,” he said.

“My very first thought was this is completely done and over with, and that was our one shot and it’s gone."

"I was definitely disappointed. I was definitely heartbroken,” he added.

Jacob's half-sister, and Greg and Sherri's youngest child, Tara, who sided with her father during the trial, expressed her relief upon hearing the news.

“My feeling when [the jury] read out the verdict was relieved, but I had mixed feelings,” she said.

“On one hand, I’m glad the jury saw what I see, and I’m glad they were able to see that he’s not guilty of this.”

“It would suck to lose the only parent I have left."

"On the other hand, it’s upsetting that the investigators just did an awful job with what they were supposed to be doing that they didn’t find out what actually happened to mom that night… I didn’t realize how much [this whole matter] was being weighed down."

"So, coming into a new normal would just be great, not having all of this over our heads," she concluded.

Dateline correspondent Andrea Canning explored Sherri Malarik's case in a 2024 Dateline episode.

“Real life cases don’t always get solved in the commercial break like on TV. They can take decades," she said.

"But very often, law enforcement will eventually come calling," she added.

The Sleepover, which documents Malarik's tragic death, aired on Friday, February 2, 2024.

New episodes of Dateline are also available to stream on Peacock.