In the late afternoon of November 12, 2018, 25-year-old Brinden R. Hall Fletcher was fatally shot during a confrontation in a parking lot on West State Boulevard in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The incident occurred within a shopping complex that housed a Kroger, a Dollar Tree, and a Pizza Hut, where Fletcher had arrived with two acquaintances, Eugene Berry and Robert Giliberto. The group had arranged to meet with Terrence D. Wintrode to conduct a transaction involving marijuana.
Giliberto reportedly owed Wintrode a debt of approximately $370 from previous dealings, which became a point of contention during the encounter.
Upon arriving at the location around 5:30 p.m., Wintrode parked his vehicle and entered the backseat of the car Fletcher was occupying, sitting directly behind the driver, Berry. Fletcher was seated in the front passenger seat. As the men discussed the strains of marijuana and the money owed, the situation escalated. Fletcher asked to see the product Wintrode was selling, to which Wintrode responded by demanding the money. Amid the dispute, Wintrode produced a firearm and shot Fletcher.
Following the investigation, Terrence Wintrode was arrested and charged in connection with Fletcher's death. The legal proceedings culminated years later in a jury trial where Wintrode took the stand, admitting to the shooting but claiming self-defense. The jury ultimately rejected this claim, finding him guilty of murder and applying a firearm sentencing enhancement, though he was acquitted of a separate felony murder charge. In April 2024, a judge sentenced Wintrode to 60 years for the murder conviction, with an additional 20 years for the use of a firearm, resulting in an aggregate sentence of 80 years in the Indiana Department of Correction. An appeal filed by Wintrode challenging his sentence and the admission of certain testimony was affirmed by the Court of Appeals in May 2025.
