In the year since Mary Gingles, her father and a neighbor were hunted down in a quiet Broward neighborhood, Mary\u2019s estranged husband Nathan Gingles \u2014 accused in the triple murder \u2014 has lambasted the conditions inside jail, portrayed himself as a victim of corruption and tried to have his cousin get custody of his young daughter.<\/p>\n
Very rarely in his 34 jailhouse calls, which spanned about six hours and which the Herald reviewed, did Nathan mention Seraphine, his 4-year-old daughter who witnessed him gunning down her mother, her grandfather and Mary\u2019s neighbor in the early-morning hours of Feb. 16, 2025, a Sunday morning in suburban Tamarac.<\/p>\n
Nathan,44, is accused of kidnapping his daughter after the rampage that killed Mary, 34, 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. Seraphine, who was placed with a foster family by state authorities, told detectives her father said they were going to visit family in Texas.<\/p>\n
Not once in the calls did Nathan mention Mary\u2019s name or directly discuss the murders.<\/p>\n
Mary Gingles with her father, David Ponzer. Both were shot and killed early Sunday morning, Feb. 16, 2025, in Tamarac. Nathan Gingles, who was Mary\u2019s estranged husband and had a domestic violence restraining order against him, has been charged with their murders and the murder of their neighbor, whose home Mary sought refuge in as Nathan stalked her, police say. Courtesy of Ponzer family <\/p>\n
On the morning of the killings, Nathan, clad in black, showed up at 5987 North Plum Bay Parkway, first shooting Mary\u2019s father to death as he drank coffee on the back patio of her olive-colored house, BSO says. 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, to death inside his house, according to BSO.<\/p>\n
Andrew Ferrin, right, poses with his uncle John David, left, in an undated photo. He was shot to death in Tamarac, Florida, on Feb. 16, 2025, one of three people killed that morning in the Plum Bay community. Nathan Gingles has been charged with the three murders. Courtesy of John David <\/p>\n
Seraphine, barefoot, ran to keep up with her father, crying, \u201cDaddy, please don\u2019t.\u201d She trailed him as he shot her mother \u201c100 times,\u201d she told deputies.<\/p>\n
Mary Gingles plays with her daughter Seraphine in an undated photo. Courtesy of Mary\u2019s friends <\/p>\n
The calls, which are not dated, were obtained by the Herald through a public-records request. They are part of a trove of photographs, interview transcripts and investigative documents released to the Herald.<\/p>\n
The recorded calls are the only time Nathan can be heard talking after the murders because Nathan declined to speak with investigators when he was arrested.<\/p>\n
Nathan Gingles looks around after he was placed in an interrogation room. Gingles was arrested on Feb. 16, 2025, on charges of murdering his wife, her father and a neighbor in Tamarac, Florida, on that day. Broward State Attorney\u2019s Office <\/p>\n
READ MORE: Terrorized by her husband, she warned police he would kill her. They failed to stop him<\/a><\/p>\n \u2018Kinda had the fault in me\u2019<\/p>\n In the calls, mainly between Nathan and his friend John Fickett, Nathan lamented his situation, complaining about receiving food trays with moldy eggs, being placed on lockdown and having \u201csnitches\u201d among the inmates at Broward County Main Jail.<\/p>\n He frequently relied on Fickett as a lifeline to the outside world, asking for assistance purchasing food and books, logging into his accounts and canceling his car insurance and subscription to Amazon Prime. Fickett didn\u2019t respond to the Miami Herald\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n In one conversation, Nathan discussed his outlook before he landed in jail, saying he \u201ckinda had the fault in me.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou know me, I was kinda a little jaded,\u201d Nathan said. \u201cBut this place is on a whole other level, man. This is a Third World country. This isn\u2019t even part of America.\u201d<\/p>\n Nathan, who is facing the death penalty if convicted, has pleaded not guilty to the murders.<\/p>\n Custody battle for daughter<\/p>\n In several of the calls, he accused prosecutors and judges of trying to \u201ctraffic\u201d his daughter. Nathan\u2019s cousin Demaris Schuler and Mary\u2019s sister Elizabeth Miller are both seeking custody of Seraphine.<\/p>\n The guardianship case is still open, court officials confirmed to the Herald. Whether a judge has ruled on Seraphine\u2019s placement is unclear because the proceedings are closed to the public.<\/p>\n In the calls, Nathan appeared to be on edge, pointing out that what he was saying was being taped \u2014 and could be played in court at his trial.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery single thing we say is being recorded and put into transcripts,\u201d Nathan said. \u201cThey\u2019re submitting it straight to evidence in my case.\u201d<\/p>\n In another call, he said: \u201cWish I could say more, but like I said, we have no constitutional rights \u2026 because [they] don\u2019t apply in Florida. So I can\u2019t even have a conversation without being recorded. So good times.\u201d<\/p>\n Murder case is a \u2018circus\u2019<\/p>\n While Nathan didn\u2019t explicitly talk about the murders on the phone, he likened the aftermath to being \u201ccrucified],\u201d saying he is fighting \u201cb——t charges\u201d that are \u201cf—–g lies.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re completely trying to throw the book at me \u2026,\u201d he told Fickett. \u201cEven the death penalty charges are all just b——t.\u201d<\/p>\n The notoriety of the case, Nathan said in a call, has him being used as \u201ca political tool\u201d for police and prosecutors\u2019 anti-civil rights, anti-gun and anti-family agendas, he claimed.<\/p>\n \u201cThey used my name for purging a bunch of people from their positions \u2026,\u201d Nathan said. \u201cIt\u2019s just crazy man. … And, of course, they\u2019re trying to destroy my daughter\u2019s life as well.\u201d<\/p>\n Eight Broward Sheriff Office deputies were fired following an internal investigation into the agency\u2019s bungled handling of the shooting scene and lack of urgent response to more than a dozen calls Mary made to BSO in the year leading up to the murders.<\/p>\n In the calls, Mary detailed to the deputies the steps Nathan was taking to kill her, from affixing a tracker on her car to stashing a black backpack in her garage containing duct tape, zip ties and a note with the word \u2018waterboarding\u2019 written on it. Her friends called it \u201cDexter\u2019s murder kit.\u201d<\/p>\n READ MORE: No rush to scene after 911 calls. Lax BSO response detailed in Tamarac triple murders<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re making a circus out of this. They\u2019re putting a bunch of propaganda and lies in the news, so good times,\u201d Nathan said, claiming that he wouldn\u2019t get a fair trial in Broward.<\/p>\n In November, a judge rejected Nathan\u2019s request to close off the courtroom<\/a> and impose a gag order, which limits attorneys and investigators from making out-of-court statements about the case. The judge ruled that sealing off the courtroom to keep the media and the public from hearings would be \u201ccontrary to the law.\u201d<\/p>\n Nathan also instructed Fickett, who had previously received an interview request from the Herald, to \u201cignore any and all\u201d questions from reporters.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t plan on talking to anyone,\u201d Fickett said.<\/p>\n \u201cGood plan,\u201d Nathan responded.<\/p>\n Nathan appeared to be paranoid about his legal representation, telling Fickett that his attorneys are \u201cactively working against me\u201d and \u201cworking with the prosecutors against my best interest.\u201d<\/p>\n 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, according to Fickett, who had asked a lawyer.<\/p>\n \u201cPut the word out that they\u2019re not to be trusted,\u201d Nathan told Fickett.<\/p>\n Sought book on prosecutorial misconduct<\/p>\n In the bulk of his conversations, Nathan detailed the misery of jail life. It\u2019s cold inside. There\u2019s black mold in the vents. \u201cGarbage a-s fake news s–t\u201d blasts on TV all day.<\/p>\n He recounted once being excited at catching a glimpse of a squirrel through a window because it was the first time in months he had seen the outside.<\/p>\n \u201cI should\u2019ve never come to this place,\u201d Nathan said. \u201cIt\u2019s full of criminals.\u201d<\/p>\n He said he orders peanut butter and jelly, matzo crackers, tea, lemonade, peanut M&Ms and other high-calorie snacks because \u201chalf the food\u201d he gets is rotten. He told Fickett fellow inmates say they look forward to going to prison so they can eat food with \u201cactual nutrients in it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWow, that\u2019s sad. It is what it is,\u201d Nathan said. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing I can do about it.\u201d<\/p>\n Jail staff, Nathan said, were \u201cretaliating\u201d against him, making the jail \u201clike torture.\u201d Deputies, he claimed, blocked him from going to exercise in the rec yard, cut off his laundry and wouldn\u2019t give him access to law books.<\/p>\n \u201cPure corruption, dude,\u201d Nathan said. \u201cPiece of s–t sheriff department. The corrupt a-s psychopath prosecutors\u2019 office. The f—–g judiciary, corrupt to the damn core, man.\u201d<\/p>\n In a call, he asked Fickett to order him a law dictionary and a book related to prosecutorial misconduct. He also requested several science-fiction and fantasy novels as well as the works of Roman philosopher Seneca. In another commissary order, he bought Nike sneakers.<\/p>\n Inmate secrets<\/p>\n As time went by, Nathan relayed to Fickett what he learned from inmates. How they brew makeshift wine in toilets and mop buckets. How state prisons don\u2019t have air conditioning. How all inmates sentenced to prison have to take a test to determine the security level of the facility to which they\u2019re sent.<\/p>\n Nathan quipped about how his charges are so serious, he would start off at a maximum-security facility.<\/p>\n In several conversations, he implied that jailhouse deputies are trying to kill him. Nathan told Fickett that if Fickett doesn\u2019t hear from him, he should get a \u201creal lawyer\u201d to find out what happened to him.<\/p>\n \u201cLooking forward to what this prison has in store for me \u2026,\u201d Nathan said. \u201cIf anything happens, it\u2019s 100% the guards, 100% the prison leadership behind it.\u201d<\/p>\n What will happen with Seraphine?<\/p>\n Nathan\u2019s jailhouse calls also shed light into the guardianship battle for Seraphine.<\/p>\n In what seems like one of the first calls after his arrest, Nathan told Fickett he was booked on murder charges and that Seraphine was turned over to child-welfare authorities. He also referenced his cousin Demaris, who is locked in a battle with Mary\u2019s sister to get custody of Seraphine.<\/p>\n \u201cI was just trying to see because you and Demaris are power of attorney and guardians, so I was hoping you could get her at some point as soon as possible and get her the f–k out of the state,\u201d Nathan said.<\/p>\n \u201cDemaris is trying. All they told her yesterday was that she was safe, so I think she\u2019s going to call today to try to get her,\u201d Fickett replied.<\/p>\n In another call, Fickett conferenced in Demaris. For several minutes, Nathan ranted about the conditions in the jail.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m so sorry,\u201d Nathan\u2019s cousin said. \u201c… Well, we\u2019re praying for ya.\u201d<\/p>\n In another call, presumably at a later date, Fickett told Nathan that Demaris \u201ccan\u2019t talk to you until she gets Sera.\u201d<\/p>\n Seraphine, who gave detectives a detailed account of what she saw on the day of the murders, is expected to be prosecutors\u2019 star witness.<\/p>\n This story was originally published February 15, 2026 at 5:00 AM.<\/p>\n Mary Gingles and her 4-year-old daughter, Seraphine Gingles. Florida Department of Law Enforcement <\/p>\n
The house where David Ponzer was killed appears empty on Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025. Nathan Gingles is accused of killing Ponzer, his daughter Mary Gingles and Andrew Ferrin, a neighbor whose home Mary sought refuge as her estranged husband Nathan hunted her down with a semiautomatic handgun on Feb. 16, 2025, the date of the murders, Broward Sheriff Office deputies say. Nathan Gingles has pleaded not guilty. Alie Skowronski askowronski@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n
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