A former hospital nurse from Dublin, Georgia, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of his wife in 2021. Benjamin Whitaker fatally shot his wife, Tiffani Scarborough, in the back four times in June 2021. He killed her just 59 days after their wedding when she nagged him for drinking. Her body was found in the kitchen of their Penn Avenue home. Whitaker was sentenced to life based on charges of two counts of aggravated assault, felony murder, and malice murder. Earlier, he was on trial in September 2025; however, the Laurens County jury could not proceed with a verdict.
The case was then moved to Morgan County for an impartial judge to give a verdict. The judge sentenced him to life in prison without parole, while earlier debating whether the possibility of parole should be included. According to 13WMAZ News, Whitaker was going to be convicted on May 6, but the date was changed for an early sentence.
Both the husband and the wife used to work as nurses. Scarborough worked at a local OB/GYN office, and Whitaker was a registered nurse at Fairview Park Hospital. The couple moved in together and got married. Her son also moved into the same house with them.
On the day of the murder, Whitaker fled the home. When Scarborough did not show up for work, her two co-workers went to her home and noticed bullet holes in the back door. One of them notified the police, and they discovered her body inside.
Nurse fatally shot wife of 59 days because she was 'nagging' him about his drinking https://t.co/J4S2gROmVe
— Law & Crime (@lawcrimenews) April 30, 2026
Whitaker was arrested the next day in a wooded area near his parents’ house. He told the police that she was nagging him about drinking. He explained, “She was chastising me about having a couple of drinks. That nagging set me off. I walked into the kitchen, and I shot her.” He got a handgun from the bedroom and shot her in the back.
According to Whitaker’s attorney, he was mentally sick after the COVID-19 pandemic. He lost several patients and became unwell. He was on medications like Lexapro and Buspar for depression. The attorney said his behaviour that day was out of character. He argues that the dr*g made him dangerous, and he could not differentiate between right and wrong.
When he was sentenced in court, Scarborough’s whole family was present there wearing red, her favorite color, according to The Courier Herald. They were satisfied with the sentence and hoped she’d be happy with the verdict too. After the 2025 trial failed, they had waited a long time to hear the final decision.
