In my original post on my friend Andrew Wimsatt’s murder, I was relying on early accounts of the crime, and thus said a few things that turned out to be wrong.
Here’s the high level summary of corrections:
- In the original post, I said Andrew was a CHL/LTC holder who “likely would have survived his assault had he been carrying that day.” The early reports I was relying on didn’t make clear that he was sitting on a park bench when his assailant snuck up behind him and stabbed him in the neck.* I had the impression he was still walking when the attack occurred. Obviously, in such a situation Andrew wouldn’t have had time to draw his weapon to stave off the attack.
- I originally wrote that Benedict Ogbodiegwu, Andrew’s alleged attacker, “does not appear to have been released on bail for previous offenses in Travis County.” This may technically be true, but I didn’t think to search the Williamson County judicial database, where it shows he has had one felony and multiple misdemeanors dismissed.
- But evidence has emerged that his attacker wasn’t just known as a crime risk, but a mental health risk as well:
Many are quick to blame revolving-door justice, but the Benedict Ogbodiegwu case—the man charged with murdering Andrew Wimsatt—is a criminal justice failure of a slightly-different sort. He wasn't a violent repeat offender.
Ogbodiegwu was ruled incompetent for trial last Feb and…
— Brint Davy (@brintdavy) September 12, 2026
Many are quick to blame revolving-door justice, but the Benedict Ogbodiegwu case—the man charged with murdering Andrew Wimsatt—is a criminal justice failure of a slightly-different sort. He wasn’t a violent repeat offender.
Ogbodiegwu was ruled incompetent for trial last Feb and sent to restoration. Then, his competency hearing scheduled for May was cancelled, and in April his theft charge was dropped.
Was he sane enough to walk free, like nothing ever happened? Obviously not. So, what did the system miss? How does mental health treatment, ordered specifically to restore competency for trial, lead to zero accountability instead of that trial?
A good question.
More complete details of the (be forewarned) grisly crime have emerged:
The affidavit says that a woman had reported finding Wimsatt’s body at around 11:15 a.m. Sept. 7 in a park in the 2400 block of Chandler Creek Boulevard, near Double File Trail Elementary. The woman told law enforcement she had found him near a park bench with significant injuries and called 911.
Video footage obtained from the neighborhood HOA showed a white man in a button-down shirt and dark shorts sitting on the bench at about 10:55 a.m. that morning.
A couple of minutes later, a black man with a knife in his hand is seen coming up behind the other man, later identified as Wimsatt, and beginning to stab him in the neck while wrapping his other arm around him. Wimsatt is seen on video attempting to push the man off, but is unable to.
Wimsatt was stabbed several more times and left on the ground when the suspect wiped the blade on his shift and ran from the scene towards the pool area. More video footage showed the suspect running north of the pool and towards N AW Grimes Boulevard.
Video from before the attack led investigators to a water fountain near the basketball court where they were able to lift a palm print.
The suspect was in a black shirt with red writing, grey sweatpants and dark shoes and had medium-length braids with light-colored tips and a dark goatee.
A canvass of local businesses and homes revealed that the suspect had visited a McDonald’s on E. Palm Valley Boulevard hours after the attack in a different set of clothes. Video footage from the restaurant also showed the man getting into a red SUV in the parking lot.
Detectives identified the SUV as belonging to Ogbodiegwu’s family and registered at a home less than a mile on foot from the park.
Another canvass around the home uncovered surveillance footage showing a black man walking west in the same clothes as the man in the HOA footage at about 10:22 a.m. He also appeared to have an object in his left pocket. He is then seen returning eastbound at about 11:05 a.m.
Snip.
A search of the area did not uncover any new evidence, but a residential search warrant did, with detectives finding a white trash bag inside an outdoor garbage can containing the black shirt, grey sweatpants and black shoes the man in the video was wearing and a 5.5 inch knife with a wooden handle. The sweatpants had red stains on them and the blade tested presumptive positive for blood, says the affidavit.
Despite Ogbodiegwu’s prior history of possible mental illness, he seemed to be cognizant enough to ditch his blood-stained clothes and murder weapon and then enjoy a meal at McDonald’s after his violent murder of a complete stranger.
One thing I have not found in local news reports is that Ogbodiegwu attempted to “behead” Andrew, as some farther flung outlets have reported. This appears to be a too-many-steps removed exaggeration of an already horrific crime.
I felt the need to post this update because many people used the original post as a source, and I fear the original mistakes have already been fed into numerous AI databases, possibly beyond the reach of human correction.
Barring some major new revelation, I hope this is the last post I have to write on the murder itself. Tomorrow I hope to have a post up celebrating Andrew’s life and posting some of the many tributes that have poured in from people who knew him.
*I originally ended this sentence with “like a cowardly little bitch,” but I fear this would have marred the objective tone were media outlets to use this post as a source. Though I still feel this description is totally accurate.
