THE suspect accused of murdering US Circuit Judge Andrew Wilkinson has been found dead following a week-long manhunt.
The body of Pedro Argote, 49, was uncovered in a heavily wooded area in Williamsport, Maryland, about 32 miles west of Frederick, on Thursday at around 11 am, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office confirmed.
Washington County Sheriff’s OfficeThe body of Pedro Argote, 49, was found on Thursday[/caption]
Washington County Bar AssociationArgote was accused of gunning down US Circuit Court Judge Andrew Wilkinson on October 19[/caption]
WUSA 9Judge Wilkinson was found with gunshot wounds on his driveway[/caption]
Argote’s body was found approximately one mile northwest of where his silver Mercedes SUV was found on Saturday afternoon.
Sheriff’s officials are expected d to release more details at a 3 pm press conference.
Argote is accused of shooting Judge Wilkinson on his driveway in Hagerstown on the evening of October 19.
The Maryland Circuit Justice was raced to the hospital, where he died of his injuries.
Approximately 11 hours before the murder, Wilkinson oversaw Argote’s divorce hearing, which was scheduled for 9:30 am on October 19, according to court records seen by The U.S. Sun.
Wilkinson granted Argote’s ex-wife full custody of their four children, Washington County Sheriff Brian Albert revealed.
Argote did not attend the divorce hearing.
The judge also ruled that Argote had no parental rights or the possibility of visitation after he was accused of domestic violence before divorce proceedings began in 2022.
He also allocated Argote’s 2009 Mercedes to her and the children, and said the mother has the “sole use and possession of the family home.”
Argote was no longer allowed to enter that property.
Sheriff Albert believes the shooting was motivated by the outcome of his divorce.
Wilkinson’s wife and children were home at the time of the shootings, the sheriff said.
Born in Agana, Guam, Wilkinson attended the University of North Carolina and Emory University School of Law.
He was sworn in as a Washington County Circuit Court judge in January 2020.
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE HISTORY
Sheriff Albert said that authorities have visited Argote’s home on the outskirts of Hagerstown twice over the past few years after receiving reports of verbal domestic assault.
However, the allegations of assault were dropped before the couple began to divorce.
The U.S. Sun previously reported that Argote and his ex-wife shared a tumultuous and sometimes violent marriage.
It was Argote who filed for divorce against his wife in 2022, records seen by The U.S. Sun show. However, he continued to live with his family for several months.
As the divorce lingered, his wife was awarded possession of the home, and Argote moved briefly to West Virginia before moving to an apartment in Frederick.
Records showed Argote wanted to continue to live with his family for at least two years to save money in preparation for their eventual split.
During a magistrates court hearing last year – which did not involve Judge Wilkinson – Argote’s ex-wife testified that the couple fought constantly.
“Every time we are around each other, there is always some kind of fight for any reason whatsoever,” she said in court.
“There is a lot of conversations about Judge and Court,” she continued, adding that the arguments were becoming too much for their children, aged between three and 12.
Wilkinson remarked on Argote’s odd wishes in an opinion issued in March.
“It seems that Father entered the court process of divorce without recognizing that the court will not simply sit back and wait for two years while he figures out what he wants to do,” the justice wrote.
The judge added that Argote has “absolute control over Mother, their finances, and their lives,” which he believed was not in the children’s best interests.
Meanwhile, a domestic violence protection order from June 2022 further speaks to Argote’s alleged controlling and sometimes violent ways.
In the petition, Argote’s ex-wife wrote that her estranged husband was leaving her without any financial resources and kept the car keys on his person at all times so she couldn’t leave the home without permission.
She also claimed that Argote became violent with their daughter in October 2020.
“I got in the middle and told him for him to get to her, he needed to hit me or kill me,” she wrote, adding that she’d sought help from a domestic violence center eight years earlier but never got enough help to leave him.
“I need help,” she wrote. “Physical violence is not the only kind of violence.”
“I can’t get out of the house without his knowledge,” she wrote.
“I have been trying to get out of this relationship for the longest time but for the fear that he will try to get custody of the kids,” she wrote.
A temporary protection order was granted, but Argote’s wife ultimately asked to dismiss her petition because the couple agreed on separate living arrangements, court records show.
Judge Wilkinson was rushed to the hospital, where he died from his injuriesFox
APWilkinson had been serving as the Washington County judge for three and a half years[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
