ROUND ROCK, Texas (KBTX) – Newly released court records describe a brutal and seemingly random morning attack at a neighborhood park that left a former long-time Texas A&M Transportation Institute research engineer dead and a 26-year-old man charged with murder.<\/p>\n
Benedict Chinedu Ogbodiegwu Jr. is being held in the Williamson County Jail on a $1 million bond in connection with the Sept. 7 killing of 62-year-old Andrew James Wimsatt.<\/p>\n
According to an arrest affidavit filed by the Williamson County Sheriff\u2019s Office, deputies were called around 11:15 a.m. on Labor Day to a park in the 2400 block of Chandler Creek Boulevard, where a passerby spotted Wimsatt lying near a park bench with severe injuries.<\/p>\n
Surveillance footage provided by a nearby HOA management captured the assault in graphic detail. Investigators said Wimsatt was sitting on a park bench at 10:55 a.m. when an assailant walked up from behind armed with a knife. The attacker wrapped an arm around Wimsatt and began stabbing him repeatedly in the neck.<\/p>\n
Wimsatt attempted to fight off the attacker but was forced to the ground, where the assailant knelt on his chest and continued stabbing him, the affidavit states. The suspect then appeared to wipe the blade on his shirt before fleeing toward a nearby pool area.<\/p>\n
Minutes before the assault, video showed the same suspect drinking from a water fountain near the park\u2019s basketball courts. Investigators dusted the fountain knob for palm prints.<\/p>\n
Neighborhood surveillance cameras captured a man matching the suspect\u2019s description \u2014 wearing a black Honda T-shirt and grey sweatpants with a large knife protruding from his pocket \u2014 walking away from a home at 10:22 a.m. and returning at 11:05 a.m. The home is located less than a mile from the park.<\/p>\n
Hours later, detectives spotted the suspect on surveillance video at a nearby McDonald\u2019s on East Palm Valley Boulevard after staff reported a matching customer. Records linked the vehicle he arrived in to Ogbodiegwu\u2019s family address on Matagorda Drive.<\/p>\n
When detectives interviewed Ogbodiegwu at the residence, he admitted that a crime-scene surveillance still shown to him was of himself, but claimed he had not been at the park that morning. He then claimed to have an identical twin, but could not tell detectives his twin\u2019s name, according to court documents.<\/p>\n
Deputies executed a search warrant at the home and discovered a white trash bag inside an exterior garbage can near the garage. Inside, investigators recovered a black Honda T-shirt, blood-stained grey sweatpants, black Nike Jordans, and a 5.5-inch wooden-handled knife that tested presumptively positive for human blood.<\/p>\n
Online professional records indicate Wimsatt spent more than two decades as a research engineer with the Texas A&M Transportation Institute.<\/p>\n
The killing has drawn sharp reaction from state leaders, with Gov. Greg Abbott calling the attack senseless and pledging to pursue legislative action.<\/p>\n
Records show this is Ogbodiegwu\u2019s third arrest in Williamson County this year. A judge found him incompetent to stand trial in his first arrest, and charges in both of his previous arrests were later dismissed. <\/p>\n
Wimsatt often played music at a restaurant in College Station; we\u2019re told he recently retired from the Texas A&M Transportation Institute. <\/p>\n
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