Amber Runau
A 23-year-old Gassville woman pled guilty in Baxter County Circuit Court Monday to a reduced charge of second-degree murder in the stabbing death of a close family friend. Amber Lea Runau was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
THE MURDER
Runau called 911 on Aug. 17, 2020 to report she had stabbed then 72-year-old Sharon Gayle Adler in the chest with a large kitchen knife.
Adler was reported to have been a long time family friend, and to have been a baby sitter for Runau and her older sister, Anna.
When she called authorities, Runau was reported to have said she became upset when she could not “fix” a picture frame and took her anger out on the victim.
Runau remained on the phone with 911 and was told to leave the house located along Elm Street in Gassville, and go out onto the driveway to meet officers, which she did.
According to the probable cause affidavit, officers said she told them her story in a matter-of-fact tone. She was said to have described the events leading up to the stabbing and the stabbing itself.
She added one macabre detail, saying she had watched the victim’s eyes as she died.
When officers went into the home, they found Adler sitting in a recliner with the kitchen knife protruding from her upper left chest area.
Runau has undergone psychological testing and treatment since the murder. At one point she was found not fit to proceed in her case and was placed in the custody of the Arkansas Department of Human Services.
SISTER IN JAIL FOR ATTEMPTED MURDER
Amber Runau’s older sister, 25-year-old Anna, is currently an inmate in the Wrightsville Women’s Unit of the state prison system in Newport. She is serving a 20-year sentence for attempted murder.
In May 2016, Anna Runau pled no contest to charges she lured a Salem man to Lake Norfork where she is reported to have stabbed him seven times.
Authorities said Anna Runau and a juvenile accomplice planned to steal the man’s truck and drive to Indiana.
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