Macon man pleads guilty to 2021 murder of pregnant woman, sentenced to life

A Macon man pleaded guilty to the 2021 fatal shooting of Patricia Ellen Gamboa and her unborn child, according to a news release from the Macon Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office.

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – A Macon man pleaded guilty to the 2021 fatal shooting of Patricia Ellen Gamboa and her unborn child, according to a news release from the Macon Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office.

The DA’s Office says the plea came as 41-year-old Jeremiah Wayne Waller’s trial was about to begin on September 5.

On June 10, 2021, the DA’s Office says Gamboa and two friends had located a missing vehicle that belonged to one of their friends and were waiting for law enforcement to arrive. Waller emerged from a home across the street and fired at the van in which the friends were sitting. Gamboa, who was pregnant and also the mother of a 2-year-old, was struck in the head, resulting in her death and the death of her unborn child.

The DA’s Office says witnesses identified Waller as the shooter and that Waller later admitted to the shooting in an interview with law enforcement.

“Our hearts go out to the victim’s family for the loss of their loved one and for the life that was lost even before it had yet begun,” DA Anita Howard said. “We particularly grieve for the small child who is left to grow up without a mother because of the heinous actions of this Defendant.”

Waller, a previously convicted felon, received a life sentence to be served in the Georgia prison system.

The DA’s Office thanked the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office for its assistance in the case’s prosecution.