On December 16, 2016, 31-year-old Michael Agerter was fatally shot in the garage of his Maricopa, Arizona, home. He had just returned from a court-ordered paternity test. Agerter was on the phone with his sister when he pulled into his garage. She heard him exclaim, 'Holy sh*t!,' followed by three gunshots. Neighbors also reported hearing the shots and saw a white van speeding away from the scene.
When police arrived, they found Agerter in his running car with gunshot wounds to his head, neck, and upper body. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
The investigation quickly focused on Michael Agerter's ex-girlfriend, Kathryn Sinkevitch. The couple, who met online in 2013, had a turbulent history that included domestic violence, leading Agerter to obtain an order of protection against her. At the time of the murder, they were in a contentious custody dispute over their infant son, born in October 2016. Agerter was seeking to establish his paternity, a move Sinkevitch strongly opposed. Coworkers told investigators that Sinkevitch had expressed a desire for Agerter to be 'out of the picture.'
Evidence connecting Sinkevitch to the crime included surveillance footage from Agerter's home. The video showed a figure in a dark hooded sweatshirt exit a white minivan, walk into the garage, and then run back to the van just 11 seconds later, which then sped off. The van was later identified as belonging to one of Sinkevitch's coworkers. Workplace surveillance video showed that Sinkevitch had been absent from her job for a period of time that day, long enough to have committed the murder. Her cell phone records also showed her phone was off the network around the time of the shooting.
Kathryn Sinkevitch was arrested on December 21, 2016. In May 2019, a jury convicted her of first-degree premeditated murder. She was subsequently sentenced to natural life in prison without the possibility of parole. A paternity test later confirmed that Michael Agerter was indeed the father of her child.
