Gloria Bell biography

Gloria Louise Bell, 43, was born in Greenville, Mississippi, where her father, Paul, served as an assistant engineer for the Mississippi Levee Board. Gloria's mother, Lorelei, was a high school English teacher.

In school, Gloria was unabashedly loquacious and forthright. Greenville teacher Dale Stegner remembers Gloria as an excellent student but a real handful because of all her questions.

She excelled academically, led her high school debate team to the state championship, and volunteered for the local nature club. She was gregarious and unafraid of being overtly intellectual. Many school chums remember her as a role model, but others recall Gloria as "stuck-up" and "superior."

With her excellent grades, Gloria had her choice of colleges, but she wanted to stay in Mississippi and work in local politics. She enrolled in Mississippi State University, studying political science. She was nominated to Phi Beta Kappa and graduated summa cum laude.

After graduation, Gloria took a fund-raising job with the state Democratic committee in Jackson. She thrived in the workplace but struggled to find new friends after hours. Two years later, Gloria was living in Oxford, planning to enroll in law school that fall.

Gloria's law professors remember that she immediately assumed a leadership role among the students and became a sought-after study companion. Robert Pruitt was one of Gloria's admirers, and their former classmates recall that he lobbied her persistently for a date. Once she finally accepted, they began a relationship, were engaged by their final year, and married shortly after earning their law degrees.

After a honeymoon in Jamaica, Gloria and Robert settled in Oxford, where both worked in the district attorney's office. Gloria told friends she was excited to be a public servant and wanted to prosecute white-collar and corporate crime. Her dream was to become a judge on the State Supreme Court.

But the work was primarily criminal cases, and Gloria reportedly chafed at the unending stream of assault and drunk-driving prosecutions she had to handle. Colleagues report that Gloria and Robert frequently argued in the hallways. Gloria told friends that Robert complained about the low pay and was "pathetically unambitious."

As the reality of work and making ends meet began to sink in, Gloria told her mother that Robert wanted to work in the private sector, a move Gloria regarded as betrayal.

Then, the unthinkable happened: Gloria discovered she was pregnant. Before she could even process the information, she had a miscarriage in the second month. Gloria reportedly told Robert about the pregnancy only after the miscarriage, at which point friends recall he went berserk.

A mutual friend, Marc Sheff, said Robert yelled at Gloria while she was still in the hospital for working so hard. "He basically told her to get over it," Sheff said. "I lost a lot of sympathy for Robert at that point."

Gloria filed for divorce, suing Robert for cruel and unusual treatment. After months of bitterly trading accusations, they finalized the paperwork, and Robert moved into private practice shortly afterward.

To divert her mind from the tragedy of her failed marriage, Gloria buried herself in work with a new level of rigor and dedication. But Gloria's bitterness toward Robert didn't end with their divorce. Mary Callahan, a public defender and Gloria's close friend, noted that Gloria was enraged when Robert began working as a high-priced defense attorney, taking on morally questionable cases and living an ostentatious lifestyle.

"It was everything Gloria despised," Callahan says. "She felt totally betrayed."

Since her marriage ended, Gloria has never had a serious relationship. However, Gloria did start quietly dating Gary Rayburn, Robert's law partner, two years ago, telling no one but Callahan. While Callahan suspects that Gloria took up with Gary out of spite, she notes that Gary is a nice guy who seems to treat Gloria well enough.

"At least with Gary, she's getting out there and having some fun occasionally," Callahan said.