Life Insurance Policies And Jail Affairs — Why Did A Texas Woman Kill And Dismember Her Husband?

George Frazier survived the streets of 1960s New York to find peace and happiness in a small Texas town. Violence, however, would follow him there. 

Frazier was born in Brooklyn in 1965. He was a beloved member of his family and known for his kindness and sense of humor. 

“He was the big guy but he was more like a humble type person,” neighbor Lola Anthony told “Snapped,” airing Sundays at 6/5c on Oxygen. “Never seen him mad, never seen him angry. George was just like a basic everyday guy.” 

Frazier’s life would never be the same after he met Gloria Aiken. Like him, she pulled herself out of poverty through sheer determination. Aiken had her first child, a daughter, when she was 18 but her relationship with the father was unable to survive the pressures of parenthood. A second daughter was born seven years later.  

“She did hair on the side. She always had a job and always had a hustle going on. She was quite inspirational to me as a kid, the fact that she was able to create opportunities for herself,” niece Iasia Aberasturi told “Snapped.”

Frazier and Aiken began dating in 1998. Frazier helped raise her two daughters as his own and watched them while Aiken worked at the post office.

After dating for seven years, Frazier and Aiken left the big city for a small town. With their younger daughter they moved to Ennis, Texas, just south of Dallas. There, Frazier enjoyed the laid-back pace of living. While he worked temp jobs and oversaw household affairs, Aiken was employed at Hutchins State Jail. In her free time, she took classes at a local community college with the intention of pursuing a career in medicine.

Everything changed when on Feb. 18, 2008. Aiken called 911 to report Frazier missing. She claimed she hadn’t seen him since the night before and that he was nowhere to be found.

“She said he left to see a friend and never came back,” Ennis Police CID Lieutenant Mike Hopson told “Snapped.”

 A missing persons investigation was opened. Investigators interviewed Aiken, who said Frazier left behind his wallet. When they asked to access his phone, she said it was broken. 

A week would pass with no sign of Frazier. Detectives asked Aiken if he had any enemies.

“Gloria told the investigators that possibly he had owed some people money, specifically, a Hispanic man who might have been in the Mexican Mafia and so that’s why she believed that something bad might have happened to him,” prosecutor Lindy Beaty told “Snapped.”     

While speaking to Aiken, detectives noted that she spoke of Frazier in the past tense, as if he were already dead. 

“That would definitely be cause for concern and kind of throw up a red flag in your investigation, when you’ve got your reporting party already referring to your victim in the past tense,” former Ellis County Sheriff’s Lieutenant Kevin Ketchum explained.

Aiken consented to a search of her home and vehicles. Investigators found no evidence of foul play but noted that she was already getting rid of Frazier’s belongings.    

“We go upstairs and there’s this big walk-in closet full of trash bags,” Hopson said. “... [She said] 'Oh, those are George’s clothes.’ She said she couldn’t stand to look at them.”

Then, on March 1, 2008, a couple walking along the shoreline of Bardwell Lake in Ellis County, Texas, found a human leg partially wrapped in a plastic bag. 

“The wound itself appeared to be cut with some sort of saw or a bladed instrument. It wasn’t a rough cut like you would see with an animal attack or an accidental dismemberment, something like that. This was a straight clean cut all the way through,” Ketchum said.

More body parts were soon found elsewhere.

“In Bardwell we found a leg, in Richland Chambers lake we found a head and torso. A head, chest, and torso,” Hopson told Columbia, South Carolina, ABC-affiliate WOLO-TV. 

Investigators with the Ellis County Sheriff’s Office learned of George Frazier after searching through local missing persons reports. After obtaining a DNA sample, it was matched with the dismembered leg. Dental records would later identify the head as belonging to Frazier.   

Aiken agreed to take a polygraph examination and was interviewed on March 3, 2008. Though she was adamant she had nothing to do with Frazier’s death, the polygraph indicated she was being deceptive. She subsequently retained a lawyer and refused to answer any more questions. Despite having already looked through her home, investigators obtained a search warrant which they executed on March 11, 2008. 

“They found blood in the Jeep. They found blood in the bathroom and [lead detective] Dorinda Clark found a large amount of blood on a chair and an ottoman and the walls of the living room and it appeared somebody tried to clean it up at some point and they didn’t do a very good job,” Hopson explained.

Investigators also found a baseball bat that had bloodstains and pieces of hair on it. Though they believed Frazier was killed in the home, the limited amount of blood suggested he was dismembered elsewhere. 

They also canvassed the neighborhood, which is how they learned Frazier and Aiken’s relationship was troubled. They fought often and Frazier suspected Aiken was cheating on him. 

Aiken’s phone records were subpoenaed and investigators noticed a phone number she called often. It belonged to a co-worker at Hutchins State Jail.    

“He admitted he had been dating her since August of ‘07. She had told him that she wasn’t married, that she was living with two old aunts that were rich and would cut her off if they knew she was seeing anybody,” Hopson explained.

The couple would often rendezvous for romantic encounters at a nearby motel. The man was shocked to learn that Aiken lived with her common-law husband, saying she had recently asked him to move in with her.

Investigators also learned that Aiken paid most of the household bills. Frazier contributed little financially but had a $250,000 life insurance policy in his name. 

 “This $250,000 life insurance policy became a real legitimate motive for why she would want him dead. She could gain a hefty life insurance policy to live the life that she wanted to lead,” Beaty said.

Eventually, DNA tests identified the blood found about the home as belonging to him. Despite this evidence, authorities still didn’t feel they had enough to successfully convict Aiken. Plus, they found it unlikely she dismembered Frazier on her own.

Detectives interviewed her boyfriend again and asked him to take a lie detector test. When asked whether he had knowledge of the murder, the test results showed deception.

“He was not really cooperative at first until we asked him, ‘Do you want to be a witness or a suspect?’ He chose witness. He would do anything he could do to clear his name at that point,” Hopson said.

The man agreed to wear a wire and try and get Aiken to talk about the murder. He told her he had been held for eight hours and that police knew “everything” about Frazier’s murder. 

“What? Everything like what? What do they know?” Aiken asked during the videotaped encounter in footage by “Snapped.”

The couple began to argue so vociferously that police were called to investigate. Upon their arrival, Aiken stopped talking, putting an end to the operation. 

The case against Aiken went nowhere for five years. After collecting Frazier’s life insurance money, she relocated to South Carolina. 

But even though the case against Aiken was largely circumstantial, a new prosecutor felt there was enough to indict her in April 2004. A Texas State Grand Jury was called, resulting in a warrant for her arrest. 

Aiken was arrested for the murder of George Frazier on May 13, 2014. She was taken into custody at her home in Columbia, South Carolina and extradited back to Texas, according to local newspaper The Greenville News.   

In May 2017, Gloria Priscilla Aiken pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to 12 years in prison, according to local newspaper the Waxahachie Daily Light. Aiken is currently incarcerated at the Dr. Lane Murray Unit in Gatesville, Texas. She is expected to be released in May 2026 when she will be 59 years old.

For more on this case and others like it, watch “Snapped,” airing Sundays at 6/5c on Oxygen or stream episodes online and in our free app.