Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / MANHUNT: DAD LOSES CUSTODY, GUNS DOWN JUDGE IN DRIVEWAY

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MANHUNT: DAD LOSES CUSTODY, GUNS DOWN JUDGE IN DRIVEWAY · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

0:05
Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grease, Custody battles are never pretty.
0:15
Speaker 2: They're always awful.
0:18
Speaker 1: In all the years I prosecuted felony crimes in inner
0:22
Speaker 1: City Atlanta, and that was ten years, murders, rape, chilvel
0:26
Speaker 1: a station, you name it, I hated going into the courtroom.
0:31
Speaker 2: When there was a custody battle going on.
0:33
Speaker 1: The anger, the animosity, the bitterness, the resentment, all that
0:38
Speaker 1: raw emotion just beneath the surface.
0:41
Speaker 2: And not always beneath the surface.
0:44
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, slugfest would break out in the courtroom. Ex
0:49
Speaker 1: husbands and wives of being literally pulled apart by the
0:52
Speaker 1: sheriff's bailiffs.
0:55
Speaker 2: Now we know a judge.
0:58
Speaker 1: Has been gunned down dead in the driveway after making
1:04
Speaker 1: a custody ruling, and now that shooter is on the run, armed,
1:11
Speaker 1: desperate and dangerous.
1:13
Speaker 2: I may see, Grace. This is Crime Stories.
1:15
Speaker 1: Thank you for being with us here at Crime Stories
1:18
Speaker 1: and Serious sixem one eleven.
1:20
Speaker 2: First of all, take a listen to.
1:21
Speaker 3: This he At approximately eight pm, deputies from the Washington
1:26
Speaker 3: County Sheriff's Office and other agencies responded to the nineteen thousand,
1:30
Speaker 3: one hundred block of Old Waterford Road in Hagerstown, Maryland
1:35
Speaker 3: for a reported shooting. The victim was an adult male
1:40
Speaker 3: who was located in the driveway of the residents. The
1:43
Speaker 3: victim was suffering from what appeared to be gunshot wounds.
1:48
Speaker 3: He was transported to Meritis Medical Center, where he later
1:51
Speaker 3: succumbed to his injuries. The victim was identified as Washington County,
1:56
Speaker 3: Maryland Circuit Court Judge Andrew Wilkinson, fifty two, of Hagerstown.
2:01
Speaker 1: You were hearing Curly Hosts, the public information officer for
2:04
Speaker 1: Washington County Sheriff's Office, and now take a listen to
2:08
Speaker 1: the elected sheriff himself.
2:10
Speaker 4: Around eight pm, Washington County Sheriff's deputies were called to
2:13
Speaker 4: Old Water for Drive north of Hagarstown after a shooting report.
2:18
Speaker 4: Judge Wilkinson was found in the driveway of the home
2:21
Speaker 4: he shares with his wife and son, suffering from multiple
2:24
Speaker 4: gunshot wounds. He later died at a local hospital. Police
2:28
Speaker 4: did not immediately release a motive for the shooting.
2:32
Speaker 5: This was a targeted attack on Judge Wilkinson. We've identified
2:36
Speaker 5: Pedro our goatee Frederick Maryland as a suspect in this case.
2:42
Speaker 5: Our goatee is not in custody and is considered armed
2:45
Speaker 5: and dangerous. If anyone has information on our got's location,
2:49
Speaker 5: we asked that they immediately contact local law enforcement. The
2:53
Speaker 5: suspect is known to drive a two thousand and nine
2:56
Speaker 5: silver Mercedes SUV GL four fifty model displaying Maryland registration.
3:03
Speaker 1: If you will gun down a superior court judge right
3:07
Speaker 1: there and his driveway with his wife and child inside,
3:12
Speaker 1: what else will you do? This guy on the run?
3:16
Speaker 1: Joining me an all star panel to make sense of
3:18
Speaker 1: what we know right now. But first straight out to
3:21
Speaker 1: special guests joining us, Chris Gavin, breaking News investigative reporter
3:25
Speaker 1: with the Messenger.
3:27
Speaker 2: Chris, thank you for being with us. Let's just start.
3:29
Speaker 1: At the beginning when police were called to the driveway.
3:34
Speaker 2: What happened.
3:35
Speaker 6: Basically, deputies were called to this suburban block in Maryland,
3:39
Speaker 6: about seventy five miles northwest of Baltimore, Quiet Street. From
3:46
Speaker 6: what it looks like, they get there and they find
3:49
Speaker 6: a judge out in the driveway suffering from a couple
3:52
Speaker 6: of gunshot wounds.
3:54
Speaker 7: We know that his.
3:55
Speaker 6: Wife and son we're home at the time, and that
3:57
Speaker 6: quip you just played you brought to a jewlery that
4:00
Speaker 6: comes to the injuries. Next day, police say they're looking
4:04
Speaker 6: for Pedro r Gote and as we quickly came to learn,
4:09
Speaker 6: he had just had a case appear in the judge's
4:12
Speaker 6: court room earlier in the morning on Thursday, where the
4:15
Speaker 6: judge had decided to give his wife's custody of their
4:20
Speaker 6: four children.
4:21
Speaker 2: Guys, so we were talking about the death of a
4:23
Speaker 2: judge in his prime.
4:27
Speaker 1: He had been on the bench since I believe twenty twenty,
4:29
Speaker 1: was doing a wonderful job. This judge fatally gunned down
4:34
Speaker 1: at his home in Hagerstown, Maryland, after not even a
4:40
Speaker 1: controversial court ruling. Joining me right now is Jessica Garth,
4:48
Speaker 1: chief of the Special Victim's Family Violence Unit Georgias out
4:52
Speaker 1: of Prince of Georgie's County, Maryland.
4:54
Speaker 2: This is your jurisdiction, Jessica.
4:58
Speaker 1: I know Dad's all over the country. You are going
5:00
Speaker 1: to hate me for saying this, but they already know
5:02
Speaker 1: that it's true. Typically custody does go to the mom.
5:08
Speaker 1: Why Maybe moms are viewed as more nurturing, Maybe the
5:12
Speaker 1: children want to be with the mom, Maybe the mom
5:14
Speaker 1: is breast any I don't know the history. I'm a
5:18
Speaker 1: criminal prosecutor. I evaluate the facts. What I'm trying to say,
5:22
Speaker 1: is when a dad goes in the courtroom, be it
5:25
Speaker 1: wrong or right? And I'm not arguing that it's right
5:28
Speaker 1: or wrong right now. I'm saying that dads expect that
5:32
Speaker 1: they may lose full custody. And I'm going to get
5:36
Speaker 1: to why he lost for old custody in just a moment,
5:39
Speaker 1: but that's a given, Jessica.
5:41
Speaker 8: I agree, Nancy.
5:42
Speaker 9: I mean, I do think times are changing as we
5:44
Speaker 9: see that the value in having both parents involved in
5:48
Speaker 9: their children's lives. But certainly for a very long time,
5:50
Speaker 9: the default has been that mothers would get a primary custody,
5:53
Speaker 9: if not full custody in a situation like this.
5:56
Speaker 1: And I'm not saying it's right and I'm not saying
5:59
Speaker 1: it's wrong. It's an individual case. How young are the children?
6:03
Speaker 2: Did they still need the mom for various reasons.
6:07
Speaker 1: That said, when a dad goes into court, get ready
6:10
Speaker 1: because you might lose custody. Otherwise, try to work on
6:14
Speaker 1: your marriage and stay with the children for Pepe's sake.
6:17
Speaker 1: Back to you, Chris Gavin, isn't it true that they
6:22
Speaker 1: had had marital issues in the past?
6:25
Speaker 6: Yes, No, from what we can tell, yes, it's been
6:29
Speaker 6: reported that they had filed for divorce over a year
6:32
Speaker 6: ago June last year, and around that same time, our
6:37
Speaker 6: goate's wife had filed for a restraining order against him
6:43
Speaker 6: citing abusive relationship.
6:46
Speaker 2: Okay, I'm going to get into their relationship.
6:49
Speaker 1: Wasn't abusive? Was it not abusive? Is that why he
6:52
Speaker 1: wasn't getting custody? He didn't even show up for that
6:54
Speaker 1: hearing that morning. By the way, let's hear some more
6:56
Speaker 1: of what we know right now. This guy on the run,
6:59
Speaker 1: and let's listen to me. If he will gun down
7:02
Speaker 1: a judge in the driveway, what will he do to
7:05
Speaker 1: you if you apprehend him, If he wants your car,
7:08
Speaker 1: if he wants your money to keep stay on the run.
7:11
Speaker 2: Listen to me. Take a listen now to our friends
7:14
Speaker 2: at crime online dot com.
7:16
Speaker 5: We have responded to the residence for verbal domestic assaults
7:20
Speaker 5: two times within the last few years, but no criminal
7:25
Speaker 5: record that we're aware of. Yes, he was legally owned
7:31
Speaker 5: a Hanga.
7:32
Speaker 4: Police identify forty nine year old Pedro Argote as the
7:35
Speaker 4: shooting suspect. Police say Argote is five to seven, one
7:38
Speaker 4: hundred and forty pounds, with black hair and brown eyes.
7:42
Speaker 4: Our Goatee's abandoned vehicle was found in a wooded area
7:45
Speaker 4: less than ten miles away. Washington County Sheriff Bryan Albert
7:49
Speaker 4: says our Goateate is considered armed and dangerous. Albert says
7:54
Speaker 4: the attack happened just hours after the judge awarded custody
7:58
Speaker 4: of our Got's four children to his ex wife. Court
8:01
Speaker 4: document showe Wilkinson also denied our Goate's visitation rights and
8:06
Speaker 4: ordered him to pay child support. Our Goate is currently
8:09
Speaker 4: on the run. Police say he has ties to multiple
8:12
Speaker 4: states outside Maryland, including New York, Florida, Indiana, and North Carolina.
8:17
Speaker 1: To Chris Gavin, joining US an investigative reporter with The Messenger, Chris,
8:22
Speaker 1: I want to talk about the number of times he
8:25
Speaker 1: was shot. Do we know how many times the judge
8:28
Speaker 1: was shot? I know at least twice, but I'm hearing multiple.
8:32
Speaker 6: We've heard that word multiple a few times, but that's
8:36
Speaker 6: about all we know. It's been unspecified so far.
8:39
Speaker 2: According to Judge Brett R.
8:41
Speaker 1: Anderson, it was the courthouse of six judges, and all
8:46
Speaker 1: the judges were very very close. I want to tell
8:51
Speaker 1: you what that's like. In the District Attorney's office, and
8:55
Speaker 1: I was a prosecutor. We had oh gosh, sixty seven,
8:58
Speaker 1: sixty to seventy prosecutors. But you would be in little
9:01
Speaker 1: clusters like the appellate lawyers. When I was an appeals lawyer,
9:05
Speaker 1: was a group of you know, ten in the brain
9:08
Speaker 1: trust and we were very very close. Then when I
9:12
Speaker 1: became a trial lawyer, you would form relationships with the
9:17
Speaker 1: people in that courtroom where you were prosecuting, the clerk,
9:21
Speaker 1: the court reporter, that lead attorney in the courtroom, the
9:26
Speaker 1: backups or as they call them, then the ponies that
9:29
Speaker 1: heap all the work on, and you become extremely close
9:33
Speaker 1: because to you, Karen start joining me, renowned psychologists, you
9:38
Speaker 1: see you're on TV, on radio, karenstart dot com Karen
9:42
Speaker 1: with a see Karen. I think part of it is
9:45
Speaker 1: that you go through it's like being in a foxhole
9:49
Speaker 1: with somebody. You are really on the front line every
9:55
Speaker 1: day at work. It's not like you can sit at
9:59
Speaker 1: your desk and your mine wanderers and you get to
10:02
Speaker 1: play candy crush. You are in there dealing with murderers
10:06
Speaker 1: and rapists, sex molesters, arsonists, dope lords.
10:12
Speaker 2: Their mules. You are on twenty four to.
10:16
Speaker 1: Seven you can't even take the elevator because there could
10:18
Speaker 1: be grars or witnesses in there. Bottom line, you form
10:22
Speaker 1: a bond like you would in combat.
10:25
Speaker 10: Exactly, Nancy. I mean, you can't think of the situation.
10:29
Speaker 10: Just like you said, you're on the front line, and
10:32
Speaker 10: so people become very very close when you're in any
10:35
Speaker 10: kind of situation where you're experiencing that much together, whether
10:42
Speaker 10: it's just like you said, people who are murderers, it
10:47
Speaker 10: just it makes you feel so close to the people
10:50
Speaker 10: that you're connected with.
10:52
Speaker 2: Well, you are close, and I will never forget. Karen.
10:54
Speaker 1: I've told you the story that my investigator was with
10:58
Speaker 1: me this cover me many times. We went to a
11:02
Speaker 1: location to find a witness. It was really bright and
11:05
Speaker 1: hot outside, and the witness it was dark on the
11:10
Speaker 1: inside of their apartment and they had one of those
11:12
Speaker 1: rusty screen doors so we couldn't see inside.
11:15
Speaker 2: The first thing we saw was a wrong.
11:18
Speaker 1: End of a barrel coming straight into our faces, and
11:23
Speaker 1: my investigator jumped in front of me, took me with him,
11:27
Speaker 1: and we jumped off the side of the porch down
11:31
Speaker 1: about four feet.
11:32
Speaker 2: We weren't hurt at all.
11:34
Speaker 1: But what I'm saying is you are at a point
11:37
Speaker 1: where you would take a bullet for that person, just
11:39
Speaker 1: like Ernest did that day. Luckily he didn't have to
11:42
Speaker 1: take a bullet, but he was willing. And these judges
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Speaker 1: who worked with this guy every day, Judge Andrew Wilkinson
11:51
Speaker 1: are with him every day on the front lines.
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Speaker 2: Not only that.
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Speaker 1: His wife, Stephanie. He has a son and a daughter.
12:02
Speaker 1: Now Daddy's dead. In the driveway.
12:18
Speaker 2: Crime Stories with Nancy Greece.
12:21
Speaker 1: Joining me, and you know him well, and everybody on
12:24
Speaker 1: the panel, let me remind you this ain't high Tea
12:26
Speaker 1: at Windsor Castle with King Charles and Camilla. So jump
12:30
Speaker 1: in if you have a thought, don't hold back. And
12:33
Speaker 1: that includes you, IRV Brandt. All right, you have tracked
12:37
Speaker 1: down people all around the world. I need to hear
12:38
Speaker 1: from you. Doctor Kendall Crowns joining me, Chief Medical Examiner,
12:42
Speaker 1: Terrance County. That's fort Worth, never a lack of business Lecturer,
12:46
Speaker 1: University of Texas Austin and Texas Christian University Medical School.
12:51
Speaker 1: Doctor Crowns, we're hearing multiple gunshot wounds. To me, that
12:55
Speaker 1: means over too typically and I don't know why it's
12:59
Speaker 1: described is too but if you start getting over to
13:03
Speaker 1: and you really don't know how many we hear multiple
13:07
Speaker 1: So I'm asking you, doctor Kendall Crowns. You've done literally
13:11
Speaker 1: thousands of autopsies. In fact, I'm very surprised you're not
13:14
Speaker 1: in the middle of one right now. That said, what
13:18
Speaker 1: did the judge go through when he died right there
13:22
Speaker 1: in the driveway? I mean, did he even have time
13:24
Speaker 1: to think, oh, my stars, I'm never going to see
13:26
Speaker 1: my children again, or oh my stars, my wife's going
13:29
Speaker 1: to get shot, or am I dying?
13:32
Speaker 2: Do you have time to think those thoughts when you're
13:36
Speaker 2: shot multiple times?
13:38
Speaker 11: Yes, I mean depending on where you get a hit.
13:40
Speaker 11: Of course, to get hid in the brain, you're not
13:42
Speaker 11: going to be thinking about too much. But if you
13:44
Speaker 11: get hid in the chest or even the heart, you
13:46
Speaker 11: still have minutes while your body is bleeding out to
13:50
Speaker 11: have those thoughts of you know, your dying and what's
13:53
Speaker 11: going on. And often while you're bleeding out, you're slowly
13:56
Speaker 11: losing consciousness. Your body's becoming colder because you're shutting down.
14:02
Speaker 11: So you know, you have several minutes of time for
14:06
Speaker 11: self reflection.
14:07
Speaker 1: I guess self reflection. Time for self reflection. Well, what
14:12
Speaker 1: do you mean by that doctor Kendall Crown self reflection.
14:16
Speaker 11: Well, you know, if you think you're dying, maybe you
14:18
Speaker 11: are thinking about all the things that you wish you
14:20
Speaker 11: could have accomplished or should have done all those things.
14:23
Speaker 11: Who knows what goes through your mind while you're dying.
14:25
Speaker 2: It's difficult to say self reflection.
14:27
Speaker 1: I don't know if i'd be having self reflection. I
14:30
Speaker 1: think I'd be worried about my children and my husband
14:35
Speaker 1: and would I ever see them again.
14:39
Speaker 10: I think that's much more of what you would have had, Nancy,
14:42
Speaker 10: Oh gosh, worrying about what would happen with your family.
14:46
Speaker 1: Yeah, Like, is this guy going to go in there?
14:48
Speaker 1: I mean, I wonder if he even saw who was
14:49
Speaker 1: shooting him. Chris Gavin with me the messenger. Had the
14:53
Speaker 1: judge just got out of his car? Was he walking
14:55
Speaker 1: to the front porch?
14:56
Speaker 6: What happened Dad hasn't actually been disclosed yet by authority. Basically,
15:01
Speaker 6: what we know, since it's the case of still under investigations,
15:04
Speaker 6: is that they got this call around eight pm on
15:06
Speaker 6: Thursday night and that they found the judge there in
15:10
Speaker 6: his driveway with his wife, and it's just on that home.
15:13
Speaker 2: I know he made it to the hospital.
15:14
Speaker 1: I mean, we've been a report said he died in
15:17
Speaker 1: the hospital.
15:18
Speaker 2: Guys, now take a listen to this.
15:21
Speaker 5: There was a proceeding earlier in the day, divorce hearing
15:25
Speaker 5: that our goatee was not in attendance of that though
15:31
Speaker 5: at the court that was earlier in the day.
15:33
Speaker 6: I'm not sure the time.
15:34
Speaker 2: Not sure of the time, and we know he didn't
15:37
Speaker 2: show up. Let's hear more.
15:39
Speaker 3: This morning at approximately eleven am, the suspects vehicle was
15:44
Speaker 3: located in a wooded area off of Bottom Road that's
15:48
Speaker 3: in Williamsport, Maryland, on the Tannery property. If you're familiar
15:52
Speaker 3: with Williamsport. A search has started and is ongoing.
15:58
Speaker 1: If you see this guy, do not approach. In fact,
16:01
Speaker 1: get away from him. Don't make it obvious. Just get
16:06
Speaker 1: away as quickly as you can. He has ties in
16:09
Speaker 1: multiple states, including New York, New Jersey, and Florida. That's
16:13
Speaker 1: probably where he's going. He does have the wherewithal the
16:17
Speaker 1: smarts to leave this country.
16:19
Speaker 2: I want to look at before we get to his
16:22
Speaker 2: vehicle being found.
16:23
Speaker 1: Chris Gavin, I want to talk about the proceeding earlier
16:26
Speaker 1: in the day, a divorce hearing that he did not attend.
16:29
Speaker 2: He was a no show.
16:31
Speaker 1: What happened in that divorce hearing, Chris Gavin, because I
16:34
Speaker 1: understand that he had been banned from the family home
16:39
Speaker 1: and that he was asked to pay twelve hundred dollars
16:41
Speaker 1: I think a month.
16:43
Speaker 2: What happened leading up to that hearing.
16:46
Speaker 6: Well, that's correct, that's what was ordered. Basically, this case
16:51
Speaker 6: had been before Judge Wilkinson record show for the past
16:54
Speaker 6: year really since it was filed in June of twenty
16:57
Speaker 6: twenty two. And like I said earlier, there was a
17:02
Speaker 6: restraining order. It was lifted. The circumstances around the straining
17:06
Speaker 6: order a little unclear at the time, but you know,
17:09
Speaker 6: kind of before this decision was made, we had heard
17:13
Speaker 6: from his wife that he was abusive towards at least
17:16
Speaker 6: one of their children and had been emotionally abusive towards
17:21
Speaker 6: her in the past. Police so they'd been called to
17:25
Speaker 6: the family home for basically arguments verbal alleged verbal abuse
17:30
Speaker 6: in the past over the last few years. So there's
17:34
Speaker 6: clearly some fraud allegations in this relationship. Prior to the
17:39
Speaker 6: judge deciding on Thursday that custody should not go towards them,
17:45
Speaker 6: In fact, he was told to stay away from his children,
17:49
Speaker 6: but he was also, to your point, had to make
17:52
Speaker 6: a monthly payments child support payment, and was supposed to
17:58
Speaker 6: allow his wife to use a Mercedes that they had
18:02
Speaker 6: to bring the kids to any needed appointments, etc.
18:06
Speaker 1: Now this is the time you are supposed to start
18:09
Speaker 1: turning your life around if you want to see your children,
18:12
Speaker 1: But instead of doing that, he shoots the judge and
18:15
Speaker 1: takes off in the mercedes.
18:18
Speaker 2: I want to talk about what led.
18:20
Speaker 1: Up to this. Take a listener to our cut one,
18:22
Speaker 1: our friend. Dave Mack.
18:23
Speaker 12: Pedro and Eugenie r Gote married with four children, but
18:27
Speaker 12: they had a relationship filled with alleged abuse, mostly verbal, emotional,
18:31
Speaker 12: and controlling. According to NBC News, Eugenia called a partner
18:35
Speaker 12: violence center in twenty twelve, but later wrote she never
18:38
Speaker 12: got enough help to leave. The Maryland Daily Record reports
18:41
Speaker 12: when Eugenie r Gote petitioned the court for protective order,
18:45
Speaker 12: she wrote that her husband was extremely controlling, kept her
18:48
Speaker 12: car keys at all times so he knew when she
18:50
Speaker 12: was leaving home, and stole money from her. On top
18:53
Speaker 12: of this, months prior to filing for divorce, pedroar Gote
18:56
Speaker 12: bragged in a twenty twenty one Facebook post about taking
18:59
Speaker 12: shooting lessons. In a review posted on the United Gunshop
19:03
Speaker 12: Facebook page, paid Rogot wrote, quote, you'll leave feeling confident
19:07
Speaker 12: unquote a little more than two years after them.
19:10
Speaker 2: That's not good. That's not good at all.
19:14
Speaker 1: We believe this guy is armed, Chris Gavin. Why do
19:17
Speaker 1: we believe he's armed? Because obviously he shot the judge,
19:20
Speaker 1: but any other reason.
19:21
Speaker 6: I mean, right now, we know that the car was found.
19:24
Speaker 6: We haven't heard any word from authority that they had
19:26
Speaker 6: found any weapon that they believe was used in this attack.
19:30
Speaker 6: Clearly he had gone through gun training or had taken
19:34
Speaker 6: a course at least in the past. And if I
19:38
Speaker 6: remember correctly, I do think that you know he had
19:41
Speaker 6: a license for that weapon. We were also had heard
19:44
Speaker 6: from his wife, who had written to the judge around
19:46
Speaker 6: the time of that the forced filing, yes, that her
19:50
Speaker 6: husband had carried a weapon quote at all times.
19:54
Speaker 2: Why what did he do for a living? Chris Gavin?
19:59
Speaker 6: Honestly, I I'm sorry, I actually don't know that.
20:01
Speaker 1: I can't find it either, Jackie said, he see if
20:04
Speaker 1: you can dig it up for me, because I haven't
20:05
Speaker 1: found it.
20:05
Speaker 2: Why does he think it needs a gun on his body.
20:08
Speaker 7: Jump in, Nancy, I think they said they ran a
20:10
Speaker 7: food truck. I think that was one of the things
20:13
Speaker 7: he had, was a food truck that they ran, like
20:15
Speaker 7: a meal type truck.
20:16
Speaker 1: Hey, there are so many facts, fast and furious, I get.
20:20
Speaker 13: It, Nancy, jump in plase, Yeah, I think you know.
20:24
Speaker 13: When we're asking the question, why would he be carrying
20:26
Speaker 13: a gun all the time, It's very clear that he
20:30
Speaker 13: has been abusing his wife for a long time. She
20:34
Speaker 13: went to that advocacy center in twenty twelve. And as
20:37
Speaker 13: the relationship continues slowly over time, they have to increase
20:42
Speaker 13: their power and control with intensity and frequency, and so
20:46
Speaker 13: a gun constantly on your hip is a great threatening
20:50
Speaker 13: tool to have to yield over the person that you're
20:54
Speaker 13: trying to intimidate.
20:55
Speaker 2: Guys with me.
20:56
Speaker 1: Shannon Henry, President, Founder SASS Ghost Surviving Assault Standing Strong.
21:03
Speaker 1: It is a nonprofit to eradicate abuse, trafficking in violence
21:06
Speaker 1: on women. You can find her at saasgo dot org. Shannon,
21:12
Speaker 1: I was just about to ask you. When I worked
21:16
Speaker 1: as a batter Women's center as a volunteer for nine years,
21:19
Speaker 1: at night, very often I would hear women state that
21:22
Speaker 1: the husband would literally take the phone card when he
21:27
Speaker 1: left to go to work, and the car keys and
21:29
Speaker 1: would have all of the credit cards, the debit cards,
21:32
Speaker 1: the everything.
21:33
Speaker 2: And when I hear this.
21:35
Speaker 1: Woman alleging that he would take the car keys, I
21:40
Speaker 1: remember all of those women with similar stories.
21:43
Speaker 2: It's just another form of.
21:45
Speaker 13: Abuse, absolutely, and it's one where they can maintain power
21:49
Speaker 13: and control. So whether it's finances or isolating them, or
21:53
Speaker 13: the intimidation and the threats and the abuse, all of
21:57
Speaker 13: it is used to keep and maintain that control. I
22:00
Speaker 13: think where we see that missus r Gote finally had
22:04
Speaker 13: her last button pushed was when he threatened her eleven
22:06
Speaker 13: year old.
22:07
Speaker 1: Now we know that the food truck was shut down
22:11
Speaker 1: during COVID and what he may be doing is a
22:15
Speaker 1: digital advertising company he reportedly was running with his wife. Now,
22:21
Speaker 1: what can you tell me? You mentioned the abuse on
22:23
Speaker 1: the eleven year old, What do we know about that?
22:26
Speaker 1: If you could describe what, if anything we know about that?
22:29
Speaker 2: From what I.
22:29
Speaker 13: Read, there was an incident where she placed her body
22:33
Speaker 13: between him and the eleven year old. She said that
22:37
Speaker 13: he was often frustrated enraged by the eleven year old.
22:42
Speaker 13: And we're not sure why, but she placed her body
22:46
Speaker 13: between him and the eleven year old to utilize the threat.
22:51
Speaker 13: And so it was shortly thereafter that she went in
22:55
Speaker 13: and did what she did to try to get the
22:58
Speaker 13: judicial system to help her protect her and her family.
23:03
Speaker 13: And thank goodness she had Judge Wilkinson who clearly saw
23:08
Speaker 13: that this level of control equals lethality. So he took
23:11
Speaker 13: away his guns, his wife, his kids, his house and
23:14
Speaker 13: did his best to remove the threat. And unfortunately, our
23:17
Speaker 13: goate then turned his attention to Wilkinson and confirmed for
23:21
Speaker 13: all of us just how accurate this judge was in
23:24
Speaker 13: his assessment.
23:25
Speaker 1: You are hearing Shannon Henry, the president and founder of
23:28
Speaker 1: sass GO Surviving Assault standing strong.
23:32
Speaker 2: You know I have disagreed.
23:34
Speaker 1: I bet you have two or Brant joining me, Senior
23:36
Speaker 1: Inspector US Marshall Service International Investigations Branch, Chief Inspector, DOJ
23:42
Speaker 1: Office International Affairs, author of Solo Shot, Curse of the Bluestone,
23:47
Speaker 1: and Flying Solo Top of the World, which I bet
23:50
Speaker 1: you got inspiration from all your trips around the world
23:53
Speaker 1: tracking down killers or rant. I've been in front of
23:57
Speaker 1: a lot of judges. I don't even know how many
24:00
Speaker 1: cannot count them that I've argued in front of, tried cases,
24:03
Speaker 1: in front of, had motions in front of and I've
24:07
Speaker 1: in the midst of trial.
24:08
Speaker 2: Thought, oh, I hate just judge. They're a jackass, they're
24:13
Speaker 2: an idiot.
24:14
Speaker 1: All that may have been true, but I sure as
24:17
Speaker 1: heck don't want them done down like a dog in
24:20
Speaker 1: the driveway with the wife and the child inside. You
24:25
Speaker 1: don't want the judge dead. They're more than a judge.
24:28
Speaker 1: They're more than a man, they're more than a woman.
24:31
Speaker 1: They represent our system of justice. And I'm sure the
24:36
Speaker 1: judge's wife and children don't give a fig about that
24:39
Speaker 1: this morning. But it's more than just a murder. It's
24:44
Speaker 1: an attack on our system.
24:46
Speaker 8: Right, Nancy, That's exactly right. And that's why the United
24:50
Speaker 8: States Marshal Service is involved in the case. The United
24:53
Speaker 8: States Marshal Service protects the federal judiciary, does all the
24:57
Speaker 8: thread investigations, does all the protect details. So they're asked
25:02
Speaker 8: to assist in statecases all the time. And you what
25:07
Speaker 8: you were talking about earlier about him missing the.
25:11
Speaker 2: Court date, he was out buying Ammo.
25:13
Speaker 8: Right, Well, it's obvious he has a plan. This was premeditated,
25:19
Speaker 8: cold blooded murder an assassination if you will on a
25:23
Speaker 8: member of the judiciary, which is an attack on society.
25:28
Speaker 1: It's an attack on all of us earth, because I mean,
25:31
Speaker 1: if you're going to gun down a judge, what else
25:33
Speaker 1: will you do?
25:35
Speaker 2: And I know he hated the ruling. I get it.
25:38
Speaker 2: He's been used to bullying.
25:39
Speaker 1: His wife and children, which is another thing Karen's talk about,
25:42
Speaker 1: why do we often see one child picked out to
25:45
Speaker 1: be mistreated.
25:46
Speaker 2: But that said, he was used.
25:48
Speaker 1: To getting his way and bullying and his judge wouldn't
25:51
Speaker 1: let him have his way.
25:52
Speaker 8: Well, Nancy, every case is different, every fugitive investigation is different,
25:56
Speaker 8: as you know. But you got to look at the
26:00
Speaker 8: fact surrounding this case. He had a plan. He went
26:05
Speaker 8: to that judge's house. This wasn't an after rage in
26:09
Speaker 8: the courtroom after a ruling. He didn't attack him on
26:12
Speaker 8: the bench. He went to his house and he assassinated him.
26:16
Speaker 8: He ditched his car. He had a plan. He was
26:20
Speaker 8: going to commit the murder. Then he was going to disappear.
26:23
Speaker 8: He was going to go on the run. So this
26:26
Speaker 8: isn't like a prison break where you have an inmate
26:29
Speaker 8: running around in a prison uniform playing it by year,
26:33
Speaker 8: making it up as he goes along.
26:34
Speaker 2: He's blending right.
26:36
Speaker 8: He has a plan. So the United States Marshall Service
26:41
Speaker 8: specializes in fugitive investigations like this. No one has a
26:44
Speaker 8: larger fugitive investigative network than the Marshall Service. They will
26:50
Speaker 8: track him to every state in the United States, every
26:54
Speaker 8: country in the world, and to the gates of Hell
26:57
Speaker 8: if necessary. He's not going to get away with it.
27:00
Speaker 2: You know.
27:00
Speaker 1: I'm looking at this guy with me, Mike Hatzel, President
27:03
Speaker 1: founder Peace River Canine Search and Rescue. He looks very
27:07
Speaker 1: much like Scott Peterson. Some people think that he's handsome,
27:13
Speaker 1: not me. I think he's killer, a judge killer, and
27:17
Speaker 1: I think he bullied his wife and their three children.
27:20
Speaker 1: And what you heard Shannon Henry say earlier, it was
27:23
Speaker 1: the little eleven year old girl that the mom had
27:26
Speaker 1: to get between him and the little girl to stop
27:30
Speaker 1: him from hitting or grabbing or physically assaulting the little girl.
27:35
Speaker 1: I can tell everybody right now, spankings do not work.
27:38
Speaker 1: I learned that when Lucy, when Lucy Lynch was two
27:41
Speaker 1: years old, I swatted her on the behind for hitting
27:44
Speaker 1: John David in the head with the block.
27:46
Speaker 2: She just looked at me like, is that all you got? Really?
27:49
Speaker 2: So then I.
27:50
Speaker 1: Went to time out, which didn't work a whole lot better,
27:52
Speaker 1: but a little bit better. So I'm looking at him
27:56
Speaker 1: and the wife and the three children, thinking about her
28:00
Speaker 1: getting between him and the three children and Shannon Henry.
28:04
Speaker 2: I'm going to circle back to you and Jessica.
28:06
Speaker 1: After the mom filed that one charge against him, that
28:10
Speaker 1: one petition, she dropped it. She was talked out of
28:13
Speaker 1: dropping it, which is curious. But Mike Hatzel agree or
28:16
Speaker 1: disagree with Brant RV Brant?
28:18
Speaker 2: Where is this guy? Where's he head? To think?
28:21
Speaker 7: Well, if I had to put money on him being it,
28:24
Speaker 7: he is kind of good looking. He's got that Antonio Bendera.
28:27
Speaker 1: According to you he's good looking, he looks like the devil.
28:30
Speaker 1: To me, he looks like pure hell to me.
28:33
Speaker 8: Go ahead, thugs.
28:34
Speaker 7: Lived by, you know, they have to up the threat
28:36
Speaker 7: all the time. That's the only way they keep the
28:38
Speaker 7: thuggery going on. And unfortunately he ran out, made his decision.
28:43
Speaker 7: He had help, obviously. I'm looking at where the car
28:45
Speaker 7: was ditched. It's out in the middle of nowhere. They
28:48
Speaker 7: didn't find him. They probably searched it looking to see
28:50
Speaker 7: if he committed suicide out there or something.
28:52
Speaker 1: He did not commit suicide that we know of exactly,
28:57
Speaker 1: so that means that somebody had to pick him up
28:59
Speaker 1: and bring him out of there.
29:00
Speaker 7: Is he sure as hell didn't walk out of there?
29:02
Speaker 7: So who's helping him? As my next question and then
29:05
Speaker 7: my best guess, I'm where he would run being he
29:08
Speaker 7: has a lot of family in the Tampa Bay area
29:10
Speaker 7: in Florida, So my guess is he's probably on his
29:13
Speaker 7: way to Florida.
29:13
Speaker 13: Well, and Nancy, I want to go back for a
29:16
Speaker 13: second to what you said about why she might have
29:20
Speaker 13: dropped that charge, you know, because it ties into exactly
29:24
Speaker 13: to what he's saying. You know, it's been proven that she,
29:28
Speaker 13: you know, twenty twelve, reached out to an advocacy center
29:31
Speaker 13: and didn't feel like she had the safety planning she
29:33
Speaker 13: needed to get out of there, you know, in a
29:37
Speaker 13: safe manner. So there's a million reasons why women drop
29:41
Speaker 13: these cases all the time, but the main one is
29:44
Speaker 13: they're not sure that they can stay safe. So the
29:47
Speaker 13: best option for staying face which sounds absurd from the outside,
29:51
Speaker 13: but it's to stay in the environment where you know
29:55
Speaker 13: that you are not going to be killed. Unfortunately, what
30:00
Speaker 13: we've discovered here is that, and I go back to
30:03
Speaker 13: mister Brandt, just how calculating this man is. He didn't snap.
30:08
Speaker 13: He chose to wait in an area of mandatory travel
30:12
Speaker 13: for this man, for this judge, which was his home.
30:15
Speaker 13: Anytime you're in an area where you have to be,
30:18
Speaker 13: you know, that's an area of mandatory travel, and that's
30:20
Speaker 13: where most people are killed. So he was waiting for him,
30:24
Speaker 13: and while he was there, he chose to kill him
30:28
Speaker 13: at a place where security is not as tight as
30:30
Speaker 13: a courthouse. Right it's his home. It's the place he
30:33
Speaker 13: can relax and go to his mailbox or do whatever
30:36
Speaker 13: he needs to do. And we know that twenty percent
30:38
Speaker 13: of people killed in domestic violence related homicides our friend's family,
30:44
Speaker 13: first responders, and yes, judges, and so now we can see,
30:49
Speaker 13: you know, we wonder why she dropped it. She knew
30:52
Speaker 13: how lethal he was and how calculating, and it all
30:56
Speaker 13: played out in this driveway.
30:58
Speaker 2: I agree or disagree, Jessica Garth strongly agree.
31:00
Speaker 9: I think that I also read in one of the
31:02
Speaker 9: articles that she agreed to drop the protective order because
31:06
Speaker 9: there had been some sort of an agreement reached between
31:09
Speaker 9: them they would be living separately, and I think I
31:12
Speaker 9: also read that at some point they were just living
31:13
Speaker 9: in separate areas of the home. But you know, an
31:16
Speaker 9: agreement like that, you have to wonder whether she actually
31:19
Speaker 9: had any power to make an agreement like that and
31:23
Speaker 9: to actually be safe, because we're talking about a woman
31:26
Speaker 9: who was being financially abused, who did not have her
31:29
Speaker 9: own source of income. She stated that her biggest fear
31:32
Speaker 9: was that he was going to take her children from her.
31:35
Speaker 9: I mean, I'm sure that she felt coerced in some
31:37
Speaker 9: way to drop what would have been an official, you know,
31:40
Speaker 9: protective order in order to come to this agreement, which
31:43
Speaker 9: ultimately did not really protect or her or her children
31:47
Speaker 9: any further than they already were on.
31:49
Speaker 1: What was happening to her and her children right now.
31:53
Speaker 1: Certainly they're not still sitting in that house like sitting
31:55
Speaker 1: Dugs Prime Stories with Nancy Grace. Let me ask you this,
32:13
Speaker 1: Jessica Garth and Shannon Henry. Jessica, do you ever think
32:18
Speaker 1: about a defendant coming after you?
32:21
Speaker 2: Yes, I do.
32:22
Speaker 1: At the time I was prosecuting, I really didn't think
32:24
Speaker 1: about it. Although my tires were slip my car winners
32:27
Speaker 1: were broken multiple times, my door was kicked in, my
32:30
Speaker 1: mailbox was knocked over.
32:32
Speaker 2: I had a lot of threats, got death threats, blah
32:34
Speaker 2: blah blah blah. But I never really.
32:36
Speaker 1: Felt at the time anyway that anything was going to
32:41
Speaker 1: happen to me. I don't know why I had that
32:43
Speaker 1: frame of mind. I guess I was just, you know,
32:45
Speaker 1: thought I was invincible.
32:47
Speaker 2: Go ahead.
32:48
Speaker 9: I've had actually defendants approach me in the community when
32:51
Speaker 9: I've been out and about, and it is It's truly chilling.
32:55
Speaker 9: It's a very very uncomfortable situation. And you really do
32:58
Speaker 9: realize how I'm pretted you are as a civil servant
33:02
Speaker 9: when you're out in the community and somebody just walks
33:03
Speaker 9: up to you and says, hey, do you remember me?
33:06
Speaker 9: So you know U yeah.
33:08
Speaker 2: I feel very.
33:09
Speaker 9: Much for the judge's family and for the judgment when
33:12
Speaker 9: people come up to me.
33:13
Speaker 1: Now, I never know where they are are, where they witness,
33:17
Speaker 1: are they a defendant? And I will never forget coming
33:20
Speaker 1: down the courthouse steps. It was a really bad child
33:25
Speaker 1: molestation case and the perp had actually, I think he
33:31
Speaker 1: said he had twenty five natural children. Okay, so many
33:35
Speaker 1: of them were grown when I walked down the steps
33:37
Speaker 1: side of that courthouse. They were all there angry and
33:41
Speaker 1: what actually threatened me? And I think it was so
33:43
Speaker 1: soon after my fiance's murder.
33:45
Speaker 2: I turned around and said.
33:46
Speaker 1: Do it, do it right here, do it shoot me?
33:50
Speaker 1: Because I was just so worn out and really didn't care.
33:54
Speaker 1: And then suddenly they'll back down. I went to my
33:57
Speaker 1: car next day on my tires were slipped.
33:59
Speaker 2: That said that ends you me? What about it, Shannon Henry, I.
34:03
Speaker 13: Think you know, we all have to be careful when
34:05
Speaker 13: we're putting ourselves in positions to protect others. Obviously, just
34:10
Speaker 13: like we see with Judge Wilkinson, our goateate clearly switched
34:15
Speaker 13: his attention from his wife to our goate because he
34:18
Speaker 13: lost his power and control in his mind from our goatee.
34:22
Speaker 13: So we decided to take it back.
34:24
Speaker 1: The car has been found. Take a listen hour cut
34:27
Speaker 1: twenty two PIO.
34:29
Speaker 3: This morning at approximately eleven am, the suspects vehicle was
34:34
Speaker 3: located in a wooded area off of Bottom Road that's
34:38
Speaker 3: in Williamsport, Maryland, on the Tannery property. If you're familiar
34:43
Speaker 3: with Williamsport, A search has started and is ongoing.
34:48
Speaker 1: To you, Christopher Gavin joining us from the messenger. Where
34:52
Speaker 1: is that in relation to where the judge was shot
34:56
Speaker 1: and where the defendant's.
34:58
Speaker 6: Home is typically speaking your call relatively in the same area,
35:03
Speaker 6: I mean not far where the car not far at all.
35:06
Speaker 6: It's about seven miles from Haterstown.
35:09
Speaker 1: Okay, IRV Brandt, this is where you and Mike hats
35:11
Speaker 1: all come in again. Or Brent, let's think this thing through.
35:13
Speaker 1: He's dumped his Mercedes, was he on foot? Did he
35:17
Speaker 1: have help? Did he catch an uber? What do we
35:20
Speaker 1: do now to find out in which direction.
35:23
Speaker 2: He's had it?
35:25
Speaker 8: Everything that you just said, could have had help, could
35:28
Speaker 8: have took an uber, could have had another car staged.
35:31
Speaker 8: He had a plan that he implemented. He had an
35:33
Speaker 8: assassination plan, and he had an escape plan. So there's
35:38
Speaker 8: many possibilities, and the investigation is going to lead in
35:44
Speaker 8: many directions. There's going to be a lot of investigators
35:47
Speaker 8: from state, local, and federal authorities, and they'll pursue every
35:54
Speaker 8: investigative the lead.
35:55
Speaker 1: When you say every investigative lead, I thank you mean
35:59
Speaker 1: I'm aternport. You're gonna look at rental cars, You're gonna
36:02
Speaker 1: look at flights, Chriskevin, you can tell me the closest
36:06
Speaker 1: airport to there.
36:08
Speaker 2: You're gonna look at toll booths.
36:09
Speaker 1: You're gonna look at tag grabbers if you can figure
36:13
Speaker 1: out what cars in You're gonna look at business video
36:17
Speaker 1: traffic cams to see which direction.
36:20
Speaker 2: You're gonna start.
36:21
Speaker 1: Rousting friends, relatives, and other jurisdictions such as Jersey, New York,
36:27
Speaker 1: and Florida finding out if they've been in contact. You're
36:29
Speaker 1: gonna ping his phone. We don't know anything about whether
36:33
Speaker 1: his phone was still in that car.
36:34
Speaker 2: Is he's smart enough to get a burner? What's the
36:36
Speaker 2: phone in the car? Chris Gavin? Do we know that?
36:39
Speaker 6: We don't know right now?
36:41
Speaker 1: That tells me it was not in the car. And
36:43
Speaker 1: this is how the car was found. Take a lis'ten
36:46
Speaker 1: just shareff Brian k Albert in twenty four.
36:49
Speaker 5: It was a local resident to found it. I think
36:52
Speaker 5: they owned some property in the area there. It is
36:55
Speaker 5: muzzleloader season here in Maryland for deer, so the hunters
36:59
Speaker 5: were out today and that's I don't know if that's
37:02
Speaker 5: why they were in the area, but you know that
37:05
Speaker 5: it's kind of a high recreation area. The Cno Canal
37:08
Speaker 5: runs south of there, so you know, it's a frequent
37:11
Speaker 5: by residents here in the community and munication.
37:14
Speaker 2: How long have you proceed there was injured.
37:16
Speaker 5: World, We don't know that at this time. We we
37:20
Speaker 5: do know that, you know, we found by local resident
37:23
Speaker 5: here about eleven o'clock this morning off Bottom Route. It's
37:27
Speaker 5: pretty remote area, so it could have been there since
37:30
Speaker 5: Thursday night or sometime Friday.
37:33
Speaker 1: That didn't help anything. This guy's got a heck of.
37:36
Speaker 2: A lead and more from the sheriff and our cut
37:38
Speaker 2: at twenty six. This tells me a lot o the car.
37:41
Speaker 5: I mean, definitely that's a possibility that he is not
37:44
Speaker 5: in the area, but we have to clear this area
37:46
Speaker 5: to make sure. It's it's a pretty big area that
37:49
Speaker 5: we're looking at him, you know, it's it's one hundreds
37:51
Speaker 5: of acres in there that you know, within a ten
37:53
Speaker 5: minute walk, you can you can be a lot of
37:55
Speaker 5: places down there.
37:56
Speaker 6: Especially with the canal.
37:57
Speaker 5: There's a railroad track that runs through and then mother
38:00
Speaker 5: on local roads. So we're just clearing it just to
38:03
Speaker 5: you know, we can say, hey, he's not here or
38:05
Speaker 5: we hopefully we can locate him.
38:07
Speaker 1: And he goes on to indicate that they don't believe
38:12
Speaker 1: he's still in the area.
38:14
Speaker 2: Chris Gavin, what does that mean? Is that actually correct?
38:17
Speaker 6: I mean, from the outside of the investigation, it's unclear.
38:20
Speaker 6: But obviously I think when authority say something like that,
38:24
Speaker 6: they typically have it on good word or have come
38:27
Speaker 6: across something in their investigation that would make them truly
38:31
Speaker 6: believe that.
38:33
Speaker 8: The last two days or so, we've.
38:34
Speaker 6: Seen the Sheriff's office post on social media the page
38:39
Speaker 6: for kIPS to the US Marshall Service, So you know,
38:42
Speaker 6: I think they're really trying to get the public's help
38:45
Speaker 6: to look beyond their accounting jurisdiction.
38:48
Speaker 1: At this point, according to the Sheriff's office, they do
38:51
Speaker 1: not believe he's in the area where his Mercedes was
38:54
Speaker 1: found abandoned. There is a ten thousand dollars reward for
39:00
Speaker 1: anyone that can help find this guy. Final word to you,
39:04
Speaker 1: IRV Brandt. US Marshall Service says he's got ties to
39:08
Speaker 1: multiple locations Brooklyn, Long Island, other places in New York, Tampa, Clearwater, Columbus, Indiana,
39:16
Speaker 1: North Carolina.
39:17
Speaker 2: Wow, as in Elena hay Stack or is it? IRV Brandt?
39:21
Speaker 8: It sounds daunting, Nancy, But in reality, it's not. Like
39:26
Speaker 8: I said before, the Marshall Service has an extensive fugitive network.
39:31
Speaker 8: They will pursue every leak there's We have offices and
39:35
Speaker 8: task forces in every city, every county in this nation.
39:40
Speaker 8: There's going to be no lack of manpower in pursuing
39:45
Speaker 8: these this investigation. I can tell you that I'm confident
39:51
Speaker 8: that it's already been designated as a major case. And
39:54
Speaker 8: the longer he stays on the run, a case like
39:57
Speaker 8: this could eventually end up being a US Martial Service
40:01
Speaker 8: most warning case.
40:02
Speaker 1: And you know, bottom line in cases like this, the
40:06
Speaker 1: judge was shot the very day the judge awarded the
40:11
Speaker 1: defendant's wife a partial judgment of absolute divorce, granting custody
40:18
Speaker 1: of their children to her. And now he is ensured
40:25
Speaker 1: that he will never have custody. He has shot a
40:30
Speaker 1: judge dead, and he is on the run, showing no.
40:35
Speaker 2: Love for his children at all.
40:39
Speaker 1: Tip line eight seven seven ninety two six eight three
40:42
Speaker 1: three to two repeat US Marshals eight seven seven nine
40:47
Speaker 1: two six eight three three two.
40:50
Speaker 2: Man, you can run, but you can't hide. Goodbye, friends,