Beloved Texas Man Ambushed, Savagely Stabbed to Death While Sitting on Park Bench

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Andrew James Wimsatt never saw it coming. Minutes after he sat down on a park bench in Round Rock, Texas, a man crept up behind him and repeatedly stabbed him in the neck. After Wimsatt collapsed to the ground, surveillance footage allegedly showed his attacker making a sawing motion across his neck with the knife before fleeing. It was a senseless, savage, and apparently random murder.

The killing occurred at approximately 11 a.m. on Labor Day. About 15 minutes later, a witness discovered Wimsatt’s lifeless body and called 911. According to Fox 7 Austin, surveillance footage from the park, a nearby restaurant, and a residence led investigators to 26-year-old Benedict Chinedu Ogbodiegwu, who was arrested and charged with murder.

Based on an arrest affidavit filed in Williamson County two days later, Fox 7 Austin reported that Wimsatt sat on the bench at 10:55 a.m. Within minutes:

A black man with a knife in his hand is seen coming up behind the other man, later identified as Wimsatt, and beginning to stab him in the neck while wrapping his other arm around him. Wimsatt is seen on video attempting to push the man off, but is unable to.

Wimsatt was stabbed several more times and left on the ground when the suspect wiped the blade on his shift and ran from the scene towards the pool area.

By piecing together available surveillance footage, police identified the suspect and obtained a palm print.

Several hours after the attack, footage captured the suspect at a nearby McDonald’s wearing different clothing. He later left the restaurant in a red SUV that detectives identified as belonging to Ogbodiegwu’s family.

Detectives spoke with Ogbodiegwu at the home, and determined he matched the description of the man seen in all three surveillance videos.

When detectives showed him a still photo of the man at the crime scene, he allegedly said it was him, but that he had not gone to the park that morning. He also said that he had a twin, but could not provide their name when asked, says the affidavit.

A search of the area did not uncover any new evidence, but a residential search warrant did, with detectives finding a white trash bag inside an outdoor garbage can containing the black shirt, grey sweatpants and black shoes the man in the video was wearing and a 5.5 inch knife with a wooden handle. The sweatpants had red stains on them and the blade tested presumptive positive for blood, says the affidavit.

Based on preliminary evidence, police “believe the attack was random and Wimsatt and Ogbodiegwu did not know each other.”

No one will be surprised to learn that this was not Ogbodiegwu’s first arrest.

KXAN Austin reported that two of Ogbodiegwu’s three prior arrests occurred this year. He was arrested for theft in January and for failing to identify or providing false identification information in June.

Wimsatt, 62, was both a highly respected civil engineer and a long-time blogger. He was best known as an early contributor to Instapundit blog. Following the news of his death, numerous friends, colleagues, and prominent media figures paid tribute to him online.

Below, Matt Welch, editor at large at Reason, and David Burge, @iowahawk, recall Wimsatt with fondness.

Behind the clinical language of police affidavits and surveillance reports was a man whose life mattered deeply to those who knew him. Wimsatt spent decades building a distinguished career, sharing his ideas, and forging friendships across the early blogosphere. That a life so rich in accomplishment and human connection could be extinguished in seconds by a stranger is as incomprehensible as it is horrifying.

For Wimsatt’s family and friends, there can be no undoing what happened on that park bench. There can only be the hope that justice is served — and that he is remembered not for the brutality of his final moments, but for the life he lived and the many people he touched.

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