{"id":435477,"date":"2026-09-14T10:56:30","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T10:56:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/435477\/"},"modified":"2026-09-14T10:56:30","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T10:56:30","slug":"gov-abbott-house-speaker-burrows-call-for-action-following-williamson-county-homicide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/435477\/","title":{"rendered":"Gov. Abbott, House Speaker Burrows call for action following Williamson County homicide"},"content":{"rendered":"

Benedict Ogbodiegwu faces a murder charge in connection to the death of Andrew Wimsatt in the 2400 block of Chandler Creek Blvd. on Sept. 7.<\/p>\n

AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 A recent homicide in Williamson County<\/a> has caught the attention of some prominent state leaders, including Gov. Greg Abbott, and had led to calls for more investigations into the suspect’s past.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Sept. 7, the Williamson County Sheriff\u2019s Office responded to the 2400 block of Chandler Creek Blvd. on Monday after a report of an injured person. Deputies arrived to find a person who was later pronounced dead by medics. The agency\u2019s Investigation Division determined the death to be a homicide by stabbing.<\/p>\n


\n \"\" <\/p>\n


\n This story continues below. <\/p>\n

Investigators identified 26-year-old Benedict Ogbodiegwu of Round Rock as a suspect. Court documents obtained by KVUE identified the victim as 62-year-old Andrew James Wimsatt.<\/p>\n

On Friday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and House Speaker Dustin Burrows highlighted the incident on social media.<\/p>\n

“The death of Andrew Wimsatt was a senseless, preventable tragedy,” Abbott said in a post on X<\/a> Friday evening. “This is exactly why I am creating a Texas Statewide Prosecutor to keep dangerous repeat offenders behind bars where they belong. We will protect innocent Texans and prosecute criminals.”<\/p>\n

Williamson County court records show that Ogbodiegwu had previously faced charges related to theft in 2017, and was arrested twice earlier in 2026: once for theft and once for lying about his identity. Each of those cases ended in dismissals.<\/p>\n

“The life of Andrew James Wimsatt was senselessly taken far too soon,” Burrows said in a post on X<\/a> Friday afternoon. “The stories of his friends paint a picture of a dutiful and loving son, an upstanding Texan, and an all-around fun and kind soul. Texans deserve answers about why his murderer was left on our streets after multiple arrests. Families should not live in fear of another savage, random attack because local officials refuse to enforce the law and protect the public. I created the Texas House\u2019s Governmental Oversight Select Committee to investigate failures like these over prosecutorial integrity. We will demand answers and expose officials who put ideology ahead of public safety.”<\/p>\n

Burrows further stated that the Texas House Governmental Oversight Select Committee will meet on Sept. 30.<\/p>\n


\nOgbodiegwu’s arrest affidavit <\/p>\n

According to court documents<\/a>, a witness called 911 after finding what appeared to be a dead person near a park bench. Authorities obtained video footage of the incident. After reviewing the footage, the sheriff\u2019s office said it showed a man with braids or locs with light-colored tips and a dark goatee holding a knife in his right hand. The man appeared to approach a man from behind and repeatedly strike him in the neck with a knife while wrapping his left arm around the victim, according to the documents.<\/p>\n

The victim allegedly tried to defend himself but was unable to, the sheriff\u2019s office said. The footage showed the victim was stabbed multiple times before falling to the ground. The suspect then ran toward a neighborhood area, the documents state.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Detectives later found Ogbodiegwu at a home on Matagorda Drive in Round Rock. He matched the description of the person in the park surveillance video and in footage from a McDonald\u2019s restaurant in Round Rock following the alleged incident, where video showed the suspect leaving the parking lot as a passenger in a red SUV.<\/p>\n

A search warrant at the home led investigators to a white trash bag in an outdoor trash can. Inside, they found a knife with a 5.5-inch blade, a wooden handle and a red substance on it. The substance was tested for human blood using a Bluestar identi-hem test and showed a presumptive positive reaction, according to court documents.<\/p>\n

Documents state clothing and a knife found in the trash matched what the suspect wore and used in the fatal stabbing, according to video footage reviewed by investigators.<\/p>\n

Following the incident, Ogbodiegwu was taken into custody and is facing a murder charge. Investigators said Tuesday they believe the attack was random and that the victim and suspect did not know each other.<\/p>\n

Detectives with the sheriff\u2019s office and the Texas Rangers are continuing to investigate the circumstances surrounding the homicide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Benedict Ogbodiegwu faces a murder charge in connection to the death of Andrew Wimsatt in the 2400 block…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":435478,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":["post-435477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=435477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435477\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/435478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=435477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=435477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=435477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}