Nathan Gingles looks around after he was placed in an interrogation room. Gingles was arrested and charged with the Feb. 16, 2025, murders of his wife, her father and a neighbor in Tamarac, Florida.
Broward State Attorney’s Office
The attorneys appointed to represent the man accused of gunning down his estranged wife, her father and a neighbor in Tamarac can withdraw from the case, a judge ruled Friday morning.
Broward Circuit Court Judge Marina Garcia-Wood granted the request of Nathan Gingles’ attorneys after they said there was a “conflict of interest” and “irreconcilable differences to an extreme degree.”
Nathan, 44, is accused of kidnapping his daughter after the Feb. 16, 2025, rampage that killed Mary Gingles, 34, his estranged wife, her father David Ponzer, 64, and Andrew Ferrin, 36. BSO deputies found Nathan and Seraphine at a North Lauderdale Walmart later that afternoon, where he was arrested.
Mary Gingles and her 4-year-old daughter, Seraphine Gingles. Florida Department of Law Enforcement
Seraphine, who was placed with a foster family by state authorities, told detectives she witnessed the murders — and that her father said they were going to visit family in Texas.
Nathan, who has pleaded not guilty, is facing the death penalty if he is convicted.
In a court filing, attorneys Kaitlin Gonzalez, Maury Halperin and Maria Della Guardia said Nathan “harbors fixed beliefs about the Office of Regional Counsel which create a breakdown in the attorney-client relationship.” The Office of Regional Counsel is made up of attorneys who are appointed to cases when the public defender’s office has a conflict of interest.
The attorneys didn’t divulge details in their filings or in court on Friday. However, jail calls obtained by the Miami Herald last month provide insight into Nathan’s troubled relationship with his attorneys.
READ MORE: Man accused of killing wife, two others never mentions wife in jailhouse calls
In several calls, Nathan appeared to be paranoid about his legal representation, telling a friend that his attorneys are “actively working against me” and “working with the prosecutors against my best interest.”
Nathan Gingles appears before Broward County Judge Marina Garcia-Wood on Friday, March 7, 2025. He is accused of killing his wife, father-in-law and a neighbor in Tamarac. Mike Stocker South Florida Sun Sentinel
Nathan added that he was looking for an attorney in North Florida to take his case. But hiring an attorney would cost about $250,000.
“Put the word out that they’re not to be trusted,” Nathan told his friend.
A planned ambush?
At 6:30 a.m. that Sunday, Nathan, clad in black, showed up at Mary’s house at 5987 North Plum Bay Parkway in Tamarac, first shooting Mary’s father to death as he drank coffee on the back patio, according to BSO.
He then chased Mary down the street with a semiautomatic handgun equipped with a silencer, killing Mary and Ferrin, whose home she sought refuge through an unlocked door, deputies say.
Seraphine, barefoot, ran to keep up with her father, crying, “Daddy, please don’t.” She trailed him as he shot her mother “100 times,” she told deputies.
Mary called BSO 14 times in the last year of her life, meticulously documenting her estranged husband’s behavior and repeatedly pleading with law enforcement to help her because she feared for her life.
Earlier that year, BSO seized Nathan’s 12 firearms, including semiautomatic shotguns, rifles and handguns, six suppressors and 660 rounds of ammunition. BSO deputies then returned them after Nathan and Mary, both U.S. Army vets, had worked out a custody agreement with their daughter. They were supposed to seize them again in the weeks before her death, but didn’t.
“[Nathan] has already taken steps to prepare to murder me, but is waiting for the opportune time,” Mary said in a court filing before her slaying.
READ MORE: Terrorized by her husband, she warned police he would kill her. They failed to stop him
Eight Broward Sheriff Office deputies were fired following an internal investigation into the agency’s bungled handling of the shooting scene and lack of urgent response to Mary’s calls. Instead of going to the scene that morning, deputies met at a “rallying point” just outside the Tamarac neighborhood.
Mary and Ferrin, Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony said, would likely be alive had deputies rushed to the scene in the minutes after the first 911 call.
READ MORE: No rush to scene after 911 calls. Lax BSO response detailed in Tamarac triple murders
A community memorial stands in front of Mary Gingles’ home on Tuesday, March 4, 2025, in Tamarac, Florida. Nathan Alan Gingles, her estranged husband, is accused of killing Mary, her father and her neighbor around 6:30 a.m. Feb. 16, 2025, in a calculated murder spree across two homes in the Plum Bay community, according to BSO. D.A. Varela Miami Herald file photo
Miami Herald
Grethel covers courts and the criminal justice system for the Miami Herald. She graduated from the University of Florida (Go Gators!), speaks Spanish and Arabic and loves animals, traveling, basketball and good storytelling. Grethel also attends law school part time.