A 62-year-old retired civil engineer who built close friendships with Fox News personalities Greg Gutfeld and Kat Timpf was stabbed to death on a Texas park bench, and the suspect, a repeat offender released from jail months earlier, now faces murder charges.
Andrew James Wimsatt had just visited his mother at a nursing home in Round Rock, Texas, on September 7 when he sat down on a bench at a nearby park. Minutes later, according to the New York Post, a 26-year-old man allegedly grabbed him from behind and repeatedly stabbed him in the neck. A passerby found Wimsatt on the ground and called police. First responders pronounced him dead at the scene.
Williamson County Sheriff's deputies arrested Benedict Chinedu Ogbodiegwu that same day on murder and theft charges. He is being held on $1 million bond and is due back in court October 8.
Surveillance cameras captured the attack. Breitbart reported that footage from multiple locations, a palm print, recovered clothing, and a knife with presumptive blood evidence led detectives to apprehend Ogbodiegwu within hours. Court filings obtained by Fox 7 Austin described the suspect approaching Wimsatt from behind with a knife, stabbing him in the neck while wrapping his other arm around the victim, then wiping blood off his shirt and walking away.
Detectives believe the two men did not know each other. No motive has been publicly identified.
The suspect's criminal history in Williamson County dates to 2017, Fox News reported. He was arrested twice in 2023 alone, for theft and carrying a fake ID. He served time in county jail from January to April and walked free on June 9.
Three months later, Wimsatt was dead.
When confronted by police after the stabbing, Ogbodiegwu claimed to have a twin brother but could not provide the twin's name.
The pattern is one Texans know well. A recent case in nearby Cedar Park involved a suspect on the state's most-wanted list arrested for alleged child sexual assault, another reminder that repeat offenders cycle through the system and back onto the streets where ordinary people bear the consequences.
Whether Ogbodiegwu should have remained behind bars longer, or whether any conditions of his release were violated, remain open questions. Court records have not disclosed what, if anything, was stolen from Wimsatt to support the theft charge filed alongside the murder count.
Wimsatt was a retired civil engineer who held a Ph.D. and had worked at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute. He lived in Austin. But to the people who knew him through Fox News, he was something rarer, a stranger who became a genuine friend.
Wimsatt had been a regular attendee of live tapings of "Gutfeld!" and the former late-night show "Red Eye." He clipped segments, promoted the shows, and built personal relationships with hosts over years of loyal viewership.
Gutfeld told Fox News Digital that the loss still had not fully registered.
"The crime, to me, is so heinous and shocking that I'm still trying to comprehend it. I may never."
Gutfeld said he had initially been skeptical of Wimsatt's motives, the way public figures learn to be wary of people who seek access.
"At first, I was suspicious, because I always assume people do things because they want things. I was wrong with Andrew. He did stuff for people, lots of people, because he enjoyed being of service, and promoting stuff that he genuinely enjoys and believes in."
In a separate remark to Fox News, Gutfeld described Wimsatt as "a kind, generous man, nearly beheaded in a park on a sunny morning, for no reason, just because." The bluntness of the statement captured what the court filings and surveillance footage already showed: a man sitting peacefully on a bench, attacked without warning by someone he had never met.
Texas has seen a string of violent incidents that have tested public confidence in the criminal justice system's ability to keep dangerous individuals off the streets. Concerns about violent encounters in Houston and elsewhere have fueled calls for tougher enforcement at every level.
Libertarian pundit Kat Timpf, a regular on "Gutfeld!," posted about Wimsatt on X shortly after his death.
"Andrew was a fan who became a friend. Cam and I just had lunch with him in Fort Worth in June, when he drove from Austin to see my return to the stage after my father's sudden death in May."
Timpf told Fox News Digital that she and Wimsatt had stayed in touch weekly for years. She described herself as shocked, disgusted, and angry at what had happened.
"He was so kind and generous it almost seems impossible. He always supported me... whether that was sending me clips I wanted to post or offering truly helpful words of encouragement during the times throughout my career that the internet was piling on me."
The picture that emerges from both Gutfeld and Timpf is of a man who gave his time freely, expected nothing in return, and built real bonds across the distance between a television audience and the people on screen. That he spent his final minutes visiting his elderly mother before sitting down in a park only sharpens the senselessness of what followed.
Law enforcement across Texas has faced mounting pressure to address violent crime and the revolving door that puts repeat offenders back in public spaces. Governor Greg Abbott has been at the center of that fight, including clashing with other states over enforcement priorities.
The prosecution's case against Ogbodiegwu appears to rest on substantial physical and digital evidence. Surveillance video captured the attack itself. Investigators recovered blood-soaked clothing and the suspected murder weapon. A palm print linked Ogbodiegwu to the scene.
Court filings described the sequence in stark terms: the suspect approached from behind, knife in hand, and began stabbing Wimsatt in the neck while restraining him with his other arm. Afterward, he wiped blood from his shirt and walked away from the bench.
Ogbodiegwu's claim about a twin brother, one whose name he could not produce, did not apparently slow the investigation. Deputies arrested him the same day.
Broader efforts to hold violent criminals accountable continue to shape the political landscape in Texas. Federal agencies have stepped up deportation operations targeting convicted criminals, while state leaders push for policies that keep repeat offenders from cycling back through communities.
Several questions remain unanswered. No motive has been established. The specific park where the attack occurred has not been publicly named. The nature of the theft charge, what was allegedly taken, and from whom, has not been disclosed. And no statement from Ogbodiegwu's legal counsel, if he has retained one, has surfaced.
What is known is that a 62-year-old man with a Ph.D., a career in civil engineering, and friendships built on nothing more than kindness sat down on a park bench in broad daylight, at eleven in the morning, and never stood up again. The man charged with taking his life had been out of jail for three months.
When the system lets a repeat offender walk free and an innocent man pays the price, accountability is not a talking point. It is a debt.
