In a hearing to determine if there was probable cause that Gattis killed his wife, Jeanett L. Gattis, 58, and his stepdaughter, Candice L. Kunze, 30, defense attorney John Rockecharlie told the court, “My client admits he was the shooter.”
But Rockecharlie said Gattis advised that “he did it because they were ganging up on him.”
Police have arrested a youth pastor for allegedly murdering his family at a home in Chester on Thanksgiving night.Gattis, 58, a former youth ministry director for Grace Lutheran Church in Chester, is also charged with killing Kunze’s boyfriend, 36-year-old Andrew Buthorn of Olympia, Wash., who had celebrated Thanksgiving with the family.
Because two of the victims were family members, those cases were heard Tuesday in domestic relations court. The case involving Buthorn is scheduled to be heard Wednesday in Chesterfield General District Court.
At the end of Tuesday’s proceeding, Judge J. David Rigler found there was probable cause that Gattis fatally shot his wife and stepdaughter and certified two counts each of first-degree murder and felony use of a firearm to a Chesterfield Circuit Court grand jury. The panel will consider indictments against Gattis on May 21.
Officers discovered two women and a man shot to death at a home on Dogwood Ridge Court in the Ashley Forrest subdivision around 11:30 p.m.
Officials said the women’s bodies were found inside the home and that the man’s body was found in the front yard.
The victims were identified as 58-year-old Jeanett L. Gattis, 30-year-old Candice L. Kunze and 36-year-old Andrew E. Buthorn.
Youth pastor arrested for allegedly murdering family on Thanksgiving | WTVR.com
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