According to Capt. J.W. Human with Gaston County Police, 20-year-old East Gaston High graduate Emily Lauren Upton, was with around four friends at Gibson’s house on June 1. Upton and her older sister, Lindsay Upton-Osment, had gone bowling and back to Gibson’s house for drinks. There police allege Gibson gave her the prescription pain pill Opana, an Oxymorphone.
The friends all stayed over for the night. The next morning, Upton was not breathing. When emergency officials arrived, Upton was pronounced dead. The Mecklenburg County Medical Examiner’s Office determined that she died from a drug overdose of the pain pills.
Gibson was charged with second-degree murder Thursday night. Police had to wait for the medical examiner’s report before filing charges, resulting in the delay, Human said. “That was a critical component of the prosecution,” Human said. “It’s just taken this long for the medical examiner to see and make a determination.”
Gibson never called 911: In Gibson’s first appearance in court Friday afternoon, prosecutors claimed he was the one who found Upton not breathing that morning. Instead of calling 911, he went outside to smoke a cigarette and collect his thoughts. By the time he came back in, Lindsay Upton-Osment had found her sister unresponsive on the couch. She began frantically trying to revive her while a friend called 911.
“I was trying to do CPR and he came in and he just acted like he didn’t know what was going on,” she said through tears. “I kept trying until paramedics got there and told me it was too late.”
‘Doesn’t make sense’: Upton had just finished her junior year at UNC Charlotte. She was working toward a bachelor’s degree in nursing and was a straight-A student. Upton’s family says the story doesn’t make sense. Emily wasn’t a drug user, her older sister Lindsay Upton-Osment said.
“My sister was very responsible, extremely responsible,” she said. “She wasn’t the kind of person to be reckless. It just doesn’t add up.” Anna Upton, Emily’s twin sister, and her mother, Samantha Shaver, spoke to her that night. “My last words to her were please be safe,”
Ann Upton feels her twin was taken from her too soon. “She was my soul mate,” she said. “I was the luckiest person in the world to have her as my twin.” In court Friday, Judge John Greenlee gave Gibson a $500,000 secured bond. The family feels it is deserved.
“We want justice for Emily,” Shaver said. “What he did to her was unfathomable.”
Gibson has a previous conviction of involuntary manslaughter from an accident in 2006. Then-16-year-old Gibson was driving drunk with a 17-year-old friend, Joshua Selph. Gibson lost control of the car and crashed, killing Selph. Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact the Gaston County Police Department at 704-866-3320.
You can reach reporter Lauren Baheri at 704-869-1842 or Twitter.com/lbaheri.