In the small town of Sodus, New York, 28-year-old Joshua Niles, a male, was fatally shot on October 22, 2018, in the driveway of his home. His girlfriend, Amber Washburn, was also killed in the attack. The couple's 4-year-old son was present in a vehicle at the scene but was unharmed. A neighbor witnessed the shooting, stating that Niles was shot multiple times while standing in the driveway, and Washburn was shot as she sat in her car.
The investigation quickly focused on Joshua's
ex-girlfriend, Charlene Childers, and her husband, Timothy Dean, a former police chief from Sunray, Texas. The motive for the murders was a bitter custody dispute over the two children Niles and Childers shared. Just months before the killings, Niles had been awarded full custody of the children. Investigators determined that Dean had driven from Texas to New York to carry out the murders, which were planned with Childers. Another man, Bron Bohlar, a former police officer, was also implicated for helping Dean rent a car used in the commission of the crime.
Timothy Dean was arrested and charged with first and second-degree murder. Charlene Childers was initially charged with conspiracy and criminal possession of a weapon, with those charges later upgraded to second-degree murder. Bohlar faced conspiracy charges. During Dean's trial, Childers testified against him, admitting that they had planned to kill Niles but not Washburn. She confessed that her desire to regain custody of her children was the driving force behind the murder plot.
In May 2019, a jury found Timothy Dean guilty of murder in the first and second degrees, conspiracy, and criminal possession of a weapon. He was subsequently sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. For her role in the killings, Charlene Childers pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter and was sentenced to 28 years in prison. The judge presiding over the case described the murders as the most senseless and tragic he had ever handled.
