Ex-pastor gets life for murdering his wife, stepdaughter and her boyfriend on Thanksgiving

A former youth pastor will spend the rest of his life behind bars for killing his wife, stepdaughter and his stepdaughter’s boyfriend while the family played a board game at their family home last Thanksgiving.

Christopher R. Gattis, 59, pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree murder on Wednesday, after a court heard arguments over spilled wine and disagreements about his wife’s children staying in the home had ensued just days before the murders, the Richmond-Times Dispatch reported. 

Chillingly, his wife Jeanett, 58, had recorded the confrontation between Gattis and her daughter Candice Kunze, 30, and boyfriend Andrew Buthorn, 36, when he demanded they leave the Virginia home on the night of their murder.

Kunze’s cellphone was also recording when, just before midnight, Gattis walked into their kitchen with a loaded pistol, shooting and killing her and capturing Buthorn crouched behind a table, pleading: ‘I will go out. I will leave.’

 

Christopher R. Gattis (above) a former Virginia youth pastor, was sentenced to 58 years in prison for killing his wife, stepdaughter and his stepdaughter’s boyfriend last Thanksgiving

Gattis's wife Jeanett, 58, (far left) had recorded a confrontation between Gattis and her daughter Candice Kunze, 30, (left) and boyfriend Andrew Buthorn, 36, (right) when he demanded they leave the Virginia home on the night of their murder

Gattis's wife Jeanett, 58, had recorded a confrontation between Gattis and her daughter Candice Kunze, 30, and boyfriend Andrew Buthorn, 36, (right) when he demanded they leave the Virginia home on the night of their murder

Gattis’s wife Jeanett, 58, (far left) had recorded a confrontation between Gattis and her daughter Candice Kunze, 30, (left) and boyfriend Andrew Buthorn, 36, (right) when he demanded they leave the Virginia home on the night of their murder

According to a summary of evidence by prosecutor Kenneth Chitty, Gattis shot his wife first, then his stepdaughter and finally Buthorn as he ran from the house in a desperate attempt to escape.    

Dissension had been building between Gattis and his victims days before, including an argument over spilled wine as family members were playing a board game two days before Thanksgiving.  

Gattis, who had been drinking, shoved his wife and allegedly tried to punch her before his nephew interceded.

Investigators learned that Gattis had issues with his wife’s daughter and boyfriend, who were contract physical therapists and were staying at the Gattis home, and didn’t want them to stay for more than a few days at a time. 

The horrific incident took place at the family home (shown) in the 14000 block of Dogwood Ridge Court in Chester, Virginia 

The horrific incident took place at the family home (shown) in the 14000 block of Dogwood Ridge Court in Chester, Virginia 

The arguing escalated up to the night of the murders, when at 6pm Gattis confronted Buthorn and Kunze as they were relaxing in a hot tub in the backyard – recorded on a home surveillance camera.

Shaking his finger, Gattis demanded the couple leave, but his wife intervened and recorded the confrontation with her cellphone. 

At about 11.15pm, he went upstairs and retrieved his Taurus .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol and walked back downstairs as the others were playing a board game in the kitchen. 

Gattis emptied his gun, firing all 11 rounds and killing all three with gunshot wounds to the back.

According to a summary of evidence by prosecutor Kenneth Chitty, Gattis (right) shot his wife (left) first, then his stepdaughter and finally Buthorn as he ran from the house  to escape

According to a summary of evidence by prosecutor Kenneth Chitty, Gattis (right) shot his wife (left) first, then his stepdaughter and finally Buthorn as he ran from the house to escape

At the time of the killings, Gattis was youth ministry director for Grace Lutheran Church (pictured)  in Chester 

At the time of the killings, Gattis was youth ministry director for Grace Lutheran Church (pictured)  in Chester 

 

Another fully loaded magazine was found on the kitchen floor, and a third loaded magazine was later found in his pocket.

 

begging to be let go. Screams can also be heard in the background. 

 

Following multiple arguments, Gattis’ wife asked his adult nephew to hide a gun, saying she was afraid Gattis would use it.

Gattis initially told police he was threatened, saying ‘they all came after me.’

   

Some of the recorded disputes leading up the killings were recovered by investigators and played in court Wednesday. Jeanett’s cellphone ‘revealed a bounty of information,’ Chitty said.   

 

 

Defense attorney John Rockecharlie submitted a photo of bruises to Gattis’ chest that Gattis claimed were caused by his wife assaulting him during the confrontation two days before the killings. 

Rockecharlie also noted that after the hot tub confrontation on Thanksgiving night, Gattis returned to his upstairs bedroom and with his window open, ‘he listened to them and they belittled him in his mind.’

‘This built up over 48 hours,’ the attorney said, adding that Gattis had earlier tried to encourage Buthorn and Kunze to leave to ‘defuse’ the situation. ‘I’m sorry you stepped into a bad situation,’ Rockecharlie said Gattis wrote in a text message to Buthorn.

Gattis’ guilty pleas on Wednesday came just over seven weeks after a judge ruled against a defense motion to suppress incriminating statements the defendant made to police just after they arrived at his home and found him sitting on the front steps — just 3 feet from where one of the victims was lying in the front yard.

The defense argued the statements should not be allowed at trial because Gattis made them before being read his Miranda rights. But the officer who was first to arrive testified that he detained Gattis without placing him under arrest because he was attempting to get an understanding of the situation before reading his rights.

Prosecutors had argued that in an emergency situation, a suspect can be handcuffed and placed in ‘investigative detention’ prior to an officer reading a person his rights. Judge T.J. Hauler agreed and ruled that the statements were admissible at his scheduled jury trial, which had been set for Nov. 7-8.

Gattis’ remarks were recorded on officer N.C. Frazier’s body-worn camera after he arrived about 11.30 that night at the family’s home in the 14900 block of Dogwood Circle. 

Prosecutors played the body camera video at Gattis’ preliminary hearing in April and again at his suppression hearing June 25.

At one point, when Frazier asked Gattis how many people he had shot, Gattis replied three. He told the officer two were inside the house and the third was visible to the officer in the front yard.

‘They’re probably all dead,’ Gattis told the officer. ‘They all came after me.’

Gattis told the officer the victims ‘kept threatening me,’ and he shot them ‘when they all ganged up on me.’

All three victims died of gunshot wounds to the back. After the shooting, Gattis contacted his home alarm company and told them to send police, but he didn’t articulate why he needed them.

At the time of the killings, Gattis was youth ministry director for Grace Lutheran Church in Chester.

Now that he likely will spend the rest of his life in prison, Rockecharlie told the court that Gattis hopes to minister to fellow inmates, ‘and hopefully atone for what he did.’

Gattis declined to make a statement before the judge pronounced the sentence.

Adam Kunze, who lost his mother and sister in the killings, said the majority of family members, including the Buthorns, are satisfied with Wednesday’s outcome.

‘They wanted justice done, as well as swiftly as possible,’ Kunze said after Wednesday’s hearing. ‘With that in mind, I think that was done today. As we see it, he’s going to live out the rest of his life in prison, and that’s what we wanted.’

Kunze said his mother and Gattis had been married for about 10 years. ‘They were very happy to have discovered one another because they went to high school together and they met at a family reunion,’ he said. 

‘So for some time, yes, they were happy. But there was also some problems that came with the happiness.’

Kunze, who lives in Los Angeles, said after he was told his family had been killed, he began ‘connecting the dots’ after getting over the initial shock.

‘It was almost like I already knew what had happened and by whom,’ he said. ‘There was something deep down that was not surprising.’ 

 

 

Chesterfield Circuit Judge David E. Johnson accepted Gattis’ pleas and sentenced him to 100 years in prison for each of the three murder counts with 45 years suspended on each. 

The three, 55-year terms will be served concurrently. Gattis was sentenced to an additional three years for using a firearm in the killings.

That gives him an active sentence of 58 years, which was equal to his age at the time of the killings. Because parole was abolished for felonies in Virginia in 1995, Gattis’ 58-year term is effectively a life sentence.

 

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