By Devoun Cetoute, Grethel Aguila
Miami Herald
BROWARD COUNTY, Fla. — Seven Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies were suspended over their handling of previous calls leading up to Sunday’s triple murder in Tamarac, in which a U.S. Army vet with a history of domestic violence shot and killed his wife, her father and the neighbor whose house she sought refuge in, Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony said during a Wednesday news conference.
The couple’s 4-year-old daughter Seraphine witnessed the killings, which happened around 6:30 a.m. Sunday in a quiet Tamarac neighborhood, deputies said. Nathan Alan Gingles, 43, who had two court-issued domestic violence restraining orders against him, is accused of killing his estranged wife Mary Catherine Gingles, 34, her 64-year-old father David Ponzer and her 36-year-old neighbor Andrew Ferrin in a calculated murder spree across two homes.
Lt. Michael Paparella, Sgt. Travis Allen, Sgt. Devoune Williams, Deputy Ilany Ceballos and Deputy Brittney King , who all worked in the Tamarac area, were put on administrative investigative leave with pay, according to BSO. Also placed on leave were Civil Division Deputy Joseph Sasso and Dania Beach Deputy Daniel Munoz.
All of the officers suspended worked for BSO for at least five years. Two of the officers, Paparella and Williams, worked with the department for two decades.
“In the process of looking at the homicide, we had to open up an internal affairs investigation to identify any shortcomings that may have occurred in the investigative process from a patrol standpoint and within the detective bureau... out of Tamarac,” Tony said. “It is clear... we fell short on this one.”
Tony emphasized the deputies suspended were involved in some aspect of the overall investigation, whether it was on Sunday or during previous calls to the house in October and December, as well as other points when they were called to the house.
‘Robust amount’ of calls to home
Officers were complacent and failed to do their due diligence when documenting and responding to calls dating back to last year. There had been a “robust amount” of calls — in the dozens — to the home, 5897 Plum Bay Pkwy., Tony said.
In October, Mary contacted BSO when she discovered that her husband had placed a tracker on her car, according to a domestic violence court petition she filed in December, seeking a restraining order against Nathan, which Broward Family Court Judge Lauren Alperstein granted. She tried to schedule a meeting with Deputy Raul Ortiz, who didn’t answer her call or call her back. Mary sent him a follow-up email, but he didn’t respond, the petition stated.
Mary’s divorce petition also states that Nathan is “ex-military and has high security clearance” and “seemed to be friendly with [BSO] officers.”
In December, deputies responded to a call from Mary, who said her husband was threatening to kill her. During that exchange, deputies may have had enough evidence to have arrested Nathan after a more than 30-minute conversation with her, Tony said. But they didn’t.
‘There will be people who lose their jobs over this’: Broward sheriff
While deputies did seize Nathan’s weapons after a judge ordered his guns be removed, they gave his guns back to him, Tony said. And BSO deputies did not take Nathan’s guns from him after a Broward judge mandated they be seized in December, according to Tony and court records. Tony said his investigators will comb through why the weapons weren’t seized.
“I don’t want the public to lose faith,” Tony said. “...When we rectify this situation I’m going to send the fear of God amongst this entire agency.”
“There will be people who lose their jobs over this,” the sheriff said.
However, Tony lauded his SWAT team’s rescue of the 4-year-old girl, saying deputies promptly handled what could have developed into an active shooter situation at the North Lauderdale Walmart, where Nathan and his daughter were found after the killings.
But the sheriff said BSO should have taken more steps to prevent the domestic violence from turning tragically violent.
“We could have done more,” he said. “I’m not shy from holding us accountable. I’m not shy about taking an aggressive tone when we fail.”
‘I am fearful for my life’
For more than a year, Mary feared that her estranged husband was planning to kill her, court records show. A Broward judge issued a domestic violence restraining order against Nathan on Dec. 30 and in February 2024 after Mary detailed his cycle of violence.
“With Nathan’s violent history, his flagrant disregard for rules or laws, and his telling our daughter that he is going to kill me, I am fearful for my life...” Mary said in the December court petition. “He has already taken steps to prepare to murder me, but is waiting for the opportune time.”
Deputies learned about the brutal killings after a 911 operator received a call Sunday morning about four shots fired near the 5800 block of Plum Bay Parkway. The caller told authorities he heard a woman crying and screaming, “Oh my God!”
According to his arrest affidavit, Nathan shot and killed Mary while their 4-year-old daughter watched. Surveillance cameras in the neighborhood captured Mary running into a house across the street, where she and Ferrin, her neighbor, were found shot to death. Moments before the murders, Nathan was seen — with the little girl behind him — following Mary into the home.
Sgt. Allen, one of the BSO deputies suspended, was the officer who saw Nathan and his daughter walking through the neighborhood — Nathan was dressed in black and Seraphine wasn’t wearing shoes, the arrest affidavit says.
BSO issued an Amber Alert and deputies later spotted Nathan’s silver 2016 BMW X3 at the Walmart at 7900 West McNab Road in North Lauderdale. They arrested him there and found Seraphine unharmed.
U.S. Army veterans
Both Mary and Nathan Gingles were officers in the service and both worked in the Signal Corps, which manages military communications systems, according to U.S. Army Human Resources Command.
Nathan Gingles served from February 2011 to January 2019, and deployed to Afghanistan from July 2013 to January 2014, according to the Army. He was discharged from the service at the rank of captain.
Mary Gingles served from June 2016 through June 2020 , and was also a captain when she left the Army, according to information the service provided. She was never deployed to a combat zone, the Army said.
After being discharged from the Army, Nathan worked as an IT contractor with the U.S. Southern Command in Doral.
Heather Hagan, an Army Human Resources Command spokesperson, said the service could not release whether Nathan or Mary Gingles were honorably discharged. “Due to Privacy Act constraints, we are unable to provide the characterization of discharge for any Soldier,” Hagan said in an email.
Nathan is jailed on a slew of charges, including murder, kidnapping and child abuse.
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Miami Herald staff writers David Goodhue and Milena Malaver contributed to this report.
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