In the spring of 2022, a domestic turmoil brewing behind closed doors in Chesapeake, Virginia, tragically culminated in the death of 44-year-old Kathryn Kathleen Dean. A female Navy veteran, Dean was in the midst of divorce proceedings with her estranged husband, Matthew Wynkoop. Seeking protection, she had obtained a protective order against him on March 23, 2022.
This legal measure, intended to last for a year, prohibited Wynkoop from contacting her, approaching her home, and mandated that he surrender or sell any firearms in his possession.
Despite the court order, on the morning of April 4, 2022, Wynkoop traveled from his residence in North Carolina to Dean's home on Willow Oak Drive in Chesapeake. A heated argument between a man and a woman was reported in a 911 call, a dispute that was horrifically punctuated by the sound of gunshots. When police officers arrived at the scene, they discovered Kathryn Dean deceased on the floor of her garage. She had been shot and killed.
Wynkoop was not present when law enforcement arrived. A search for him ensued, and he was later located and taken into custody in Currituck County, North Carolina. Following his arrest, he was charged with first-degree murder. During the subsequent investigation, Wynkoop confessed to disposing of the firearm he used in the commission of the crime.
Just under a year after a jury found him guilty of the murder of his estranged wife, Matthew Wynkoop, then 48, was sentenced in April 2024. During the sentencing hearing, emotional testimony was provided by Dean's parents and her two children from a previous marriage. Wynkoop received a sentence of 68 years in prison for a series of charges that included murder, armed burglary, and the possession of a firearm while being the subject of a protective order.
