A 62-year-old Texas engineer with ties to multiple Fox News hosts was stabbed to death from behind in what authorities have described as a random attack on a park bench in Round Rock, Texas, and deputies have arrested a repeat offender who spent months in the local jail earlier this year.
Andrew James Wimsatt, of Austin, was killed on Sept. 7 — minutes after he sat down in the park after visiting his mother at a nursing home nearby, according to authorities.
Williamson County deputies have arrested a 26-year-old local man named Benedict Chinedu Ogbodiegwu on murder and theft charges.
The murder was recorded on surveillance video, according to the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office.
A man identified as Wimsatt sat down on a park bench at around 11 a.m., authorities said. A few minutes later, another man, alleged to be Ogbodiegwu, grabbed him from behind and repeatedly drove a knife into his neck.
The victim struggled but was unable to push his attacker away as the stabbing continued, according to a probable cause affidavit obtained by Fox 7 Austin. The suspect then wiped the blood off on his shirt and walked out of view.
Wimsatt, who had a Ph.D. in civil engineering, is credited on IMDB as an executive producer of the Penn Jillette horror/comedy “Director’s Cut.” He worked for the Texas A&M Transportation Institute, staying on part-time even after retiring, and had an Instagram account filled with photos of wildlife, vintage storefronts and city landscapes.
He also had ties to several Fox News personalities.
“The crime, to me, is so heinous and shocking that I’m still trying to comprehend it,” Greg Gutfeld said Friday. “I may never.”
They first met when Wimsatt became a fan of a former show, “Red Eye,” Gutfeld said. The engineer would clip segments from the show and attend his live events.
“At first, I was suspicious, because I always assume people do things because they want things,” he told Fox News Digital. “I was wrong with Andrew. He did stuff for people — lots of people — because he enjoyed being of service, and promoting stuff that he genuinely enjoys and believes in.”
Kat Timpf called him a “fan who became a friend” — a friend not only to her, but also to her family. They had lunch in Fort Worth in June, and she said she was expecting to see him at a show in Nevada later this month.
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“He was so kind and generous it almost seems impossible,” she told Fox News Digital Friday. “He always supported me… whether that was sending me clips I wanted to post or offering truly helpful words of encouragement during the times throughout my career that the internet was piling on me.”
They spoke regularly — once a week or more for years — and he became known for sending TV clips to members of the “Gutfeld!” cast.
“Whenever the rest of the internet was making me feel hopeless about the state of the world, I could always count on a message from Andrew to remind me of the good that’s out there, too,” Timpf said.
Wimsatt attended Tyrus’ standup shows as well.
“[He] took care of his mother… always positive… he was kind man, 62 years old fragile looking but had a monster laugh,” Tyrus said in a statement. “I was honored to know him I was honored he cared so much and honored that my jokes and thoughts brought him joy.”
On Labor Day, a witness called 911 after finding Wimsatt on the ground in the park, and paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene, according to authorities.
Investigators were able to retrace the suspect’s steps and allegedly recovered prints and other evidence, including bloody clothes and the suspected murder weapon, according to the affidavit. When confronted with video evidence, Ogbodiegwu allegedly claimed he had a twin brother but could not provide his name.
Ogbodiegwu has a criminal record in Williamson County going back to at least 2017, when he was charged with stealing. He had two prior arrests this year, on charges involving theft and carrying fake identification.
Prior to his arrest in connection with Wimsatt’s murder, he was most recently released from the county jail on June 9. He had also been incarcerated between January and April.
He’s being held on $1 million bond. His next court date is on Oct. 8 at 1:30 p.m., for a pre-indictment docket call.
“He was a kind, generous man, nearly beheaded in a park on a sunny morning, for no reason, just because,” Gutfeld said. “I believe everyone who allowed the person who killed him to roam free like that, deserve severe accountability.”
