A South Florida sheriff’s office has fired six more deputies and disciplined 11 others for their handling of the case of Mary Gingles, a woman who investigators say was murdered by her estranged husband after she had warned officers for months that she feared he would kill her. Two officers had previously been dismissed for their role in the case.
An internal investigation found that multiple Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies failed to properly investigate Gingles’ reports of domestic violence perpetrated by her husband, Nathan Gingles, before he allegedly carried out the triple homicide of his wife, her father, David Ponzer, and her neighbor Andrew Ferrin, as the Gingles’ four-year-old daughter begged her father to stop.
Nathan Gingles has pleaded not guilty. If convicted, he could face the death penalty.
The killings — despite Mary Gingles’ repeated pleas for help — have shaken the South Florida community of Tamarac and ignited fresh scrutiny of officers’ failure to use the state’s red flag law to remove firearms from a person deemed a danger to themselves or others.
Following through on threats that Mary Gingles had repeatedly reported, on Feb. 16, 2025, Nathan Gingles fatally shot his father-in-law as he was drinking coffee on the back patio of the family’s home, before chasing Mary down the street and killing her and Ferrin, a neighbor whose home she fled to, according to investigators.
“We had multiple opportunities to protect Mary during the months preceding her death when she alerted us to the domestic violence she was experiencing. The deputies and detectives assigned to investigate these cases failed their training and, ultimately, failed to handle Mary’s repeated cries for help with the urgency required,” Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony said in a statement.
According to an investigation by the Miami Herald, in the year leading up to her murder, Mary Gingles had confided in friends, family and law enforcement officers that she feared her estranged husband would kill her.
He repeatedly violated restraining orders barring him from the family’s home, terrorizing his wife by putting a tracker on her car and leaving a backpack full of supplies like duct tape and zip ties in the garage, the investigation found.
Gingles’ alleged behavior in the months leading up to the killings was consistent with what experts say are known risk factors for further abuse, including deadly violence. More female intimate partners are killed by firearms than by all other means combined, according to a Department of Justice analysis of a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“One of the most crucial steps to prevent lethal violence is to disarm abusers and keep them disarmed,” the Justice Department’s report stated.
___ Kate Payne is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
