MEDIA ARTICLE: How Florida Police Failed to Help Mary Gingles Before She Was Killed Allegedly by Her Estranged Husband Nathan (US Weekly, 3-5-26)

Crime News

How Florida Police Failed to Help Mary Gingles Before She Was Killed Allegedly by Her Estranged Husband Nathan

By Katherine Schaffstall 

 March 5, 2026

Mary Gingles and two others were allegedly killed by her estranged husband, Nathan Gingles, in February 2025 after she had gone to police at least 14 times to discuss her fears for her safety. 

In the latest episode of Us Weekly’s Uncovered, investigative journalist Kristin Thorne revealed how police let down Mary by seemingly not taking her concerns about Nathan seriously.

“She went to police in Tamarac, Florida, over and over telling them her life was in danger,” Thorne said at the beginning of the episode, adding that Mary believed Nathan “was going to kill her.”

Not only has Nathan been accused of killing Mary in front of their 4-year-old daughter, but he also is accused of killing Mary’s father, David Ponzer, and her neighbor, Andrew Ferrin.

On the day of the killings, prosecutors said that Ponzer was having coffee in Mary’s backyard when Nathan shot him in the head. Nathan then went after Mary as he fought her and threatened to kill her.

Mary attempted to escape by running to Ferrin’s house. Nathan followed her and shot Ferrin while he was asleep in bed, according to police. Prosecutors then said that Nathan killed Mary in the corner of Ferrin’s bedroom in front of their daughter.

Nathan then kidnapped their daughter, and officers tracked him down about an hour later at a local Walmart. The young girl was unharmed.

Gingles has pleaded not guilty to the charges. He is awaiting trial.

Thorne dug even deeper into the case while talking to the Miami Herald’s Grethel Aguila and Joan Chrissos, who became familiar with the case while covering it in real time.

Aguila said that “Mary did everything right,” adding that “the only thing she could have done” to get away from Nathan was move away.

Chrissos then explained that Mary was a captain in the Army, so she knew to keep precise documentation of what was going on with Nathan. Chrissos added that Mary Gingles contacted the Broward Sheriff’s Office at least 14 times about issues with Nathan.

“When police would come and they would take her statement, she would tell them, like, ‘My husband’s stalking me,’ he’s doing this, he’s doing that,” Aguila said, sharing that she told police that he broke into her garage and placed a GPS tracker on her car. “She even went to the degree of doing their own job and investigating.”

While Mary presented evidence of the GPS tracker, Aguila said “it’s very clear that” the police officer assigned to the case “didn’t do anything” to help “until way later.”

Chrissos went on to say that one of the “biggest mishaps” in the case involved Mary getting a restraining order against Nathan and police not seizing his guns at the time.

“The judge said he had to surrender his guns, his weapons. Now, they knew that he had weapons, because in the previous restraining order, he had surrendered his weapons and they took a detailed inventory of all his weapons, all his ammunitions, all his accessories and it was at least a four or five-page detailed inventory that was filed within public records,” she said.

When a police officer went to Nathan’s home in January 2025 to inform Nathan of the restraining order, he reminded Nathan that he wasn’t supposed to have any weapons. Video from the officer’s body cam shows that Nathan nods his head, but the officer doesn’t press him on whether he has any guns in his apartment.

“Mind you, they had just taken his weapons about four months earlier, and inventoried everything,” Chrissos said. “The same group of people, the same law enforcement officers.”

While police officers didn’t seem to think much of the case, Aguila said that “everyone” in Mary’s life believed she “knew” Nathan would kill her.

“She kind of, like, accepted this as her reality while she was alive, which is very haunting to think about,” Aguila said. “And she was very frustrated by the fact that law enforcement wasn’t really taking her concern seriously.”

Aguila concluded that police were aware of what was going on between Mary and Nathan, and the situation “could have been prevented” if they had taken her concerns more seriously.

In light of Mary’s death, at least eight deputies in the Broward Sheriff’s Office were fired for the way they handled the case. Meanwhile, 21 others were disciplined.

Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony slammed his officers for the way they mishandled Mary Gingles’ case.

“It is painful to say this, but it is the truth — we failed Mary Gingles, David Ponzer and Andrew Ferrin. I am heartbroken by their deaths, and I am sorry that we didn’t do what we should have done to protect them,” Tony said in a statement. 

“Once I learned of the potential failures in this case, I instructed our Internal Affairs Unit to conduct an exhaustive investigation and to follow the evidence wherever it led and to whomever was responsible. 

This is the only way that BSO can continue to grow as an agency and to maintain the public’s trust. Once IA briefed me on their findings, I was determined to hold these employees accountable for their failures.”

Many of the officers who were expelled from the department are appealing those decisions through their union.

https://www.usmagazine.com/crime-news/news/how-police-failed-to-help-mary-gingles-before-ex-allegedly-killed-her/