The Mary Gingles case refers to the February 16, 2025 murder of a 34-year-old Tamarac, Florida mother by her estranged husband Nathan Gingles, who also killed her father and a neighbor after Mary spent nearly a year warning the Broward Sheriff’s Office that he was going to kill her. An internal investigation later concluded that BSO deputies ignored her repeated pleas, failed to collect evidence she handed them, returned a confiscated arsenal to Nathan, and then violated the agency’s own active-shooter policy on the morning of the killings. Eight employees were fired. Nathan faces the death penalty. Their four-year-old daughter witnessed the murders.
What Happened on February 16, 2025
At 5:39 a.m., Nathan Gingles drove to Mary’s home on North Grand Duke Circle in Tamarac. He entered through the back of the house around 6:00 a.m. and shot David Ponzer, Mary’s 64-year-old father, while Ponzer was drinking coffee on the back patio.1WLRN. Tamarac Triple Murder Broward BSO Gingles Mary fled with her daughter Seraphine and struggled with Nathan in a nearby alley. A neighbor reported hearing four gunshots at 6:01 a.m.
Mary ran to the home of Andrew Ferrin, a 36-year-old neighbor on North Plum Bay Parkway, knocking on doors trying to get help. Ferrin opened his door. Nathan followed Mary inside and killed both of them.2The Guardian. Florida Officers Mary Gingles Murder Ferrin did not know Mary personally; his uncle later told reporters he had simply answered the door.3NBC Miami. Victims of Tamarac Killing Spree Shooting Abduction Seraphine was present throughout and reportedly begged her father to stop.
After the shootings, BSO Sergeant Travis Allen encountered Nathan and the child walking in the road near the scene and did not stop them, later telling investigators the situation “did not register enough with him.”1WLRN. Tamarac Triple Murder Broward BSO Gingles Nathan was apprehended hours later at a Walmart in North Lauderdale, with Seraphine.4Miami Herald. Tamarac Triple Murder Custody
The murder weapon was a Sig Sauer P320 semiautomatic handgun with a suppressor, recovered by a BSO dive team from a body of water less than half a mile from the scene. Its serial number matched a weapon that BSO had seized from Nathan a year earlier and then returned to him.5Miami Herald. Tamarac Murder Weapon Recovery
The Year of Warnings Before the Killings
Records showed at least 11 contacts between BSO and Mary Gingles in the months before her death.6WLRN. BSO Fires 6 More Deputies After Tamarac Homicides
On February 9, 2024, Mary called BSO to enforce a temporary domestic violence restraining order granted by Judge Lauren Alperstein. Deputies confiscated 12 firearms, six suppressors, and 660 rounds of ammunition from Nathan.7Miami Herald. BSO Domestic Violence Restraining Order Failures The next day, Mary told deputies that Nathan had put her in a chokehold, dragged her upstairs, threatened to kill her, and made statements like “I want to taste the blood of the innocent.” Deputy Daniel Lovallo took the report but did not investigate it as a separate domestic violence crime.
In July 2024, Mary agreed to drop the restraining order, believing a “no harmful contact” order would suffice during the divorce. That order allowed shared custody of Seraphine and permitted Nathan to retrieve his confiscated firearms.8NBC Miami. Legislator Wants Guns Taken When Accused Domestic Abusers Get Injunctions BSO returned the entire arsenal to him in September 2024.9Miami Herald. Tamarac Murder Weapons Returned
On October 29, 2024, Mary discovered a HAPN GPS tracker hidden in the passenger-side wheel well of her 2023 Mitsubishi Outlander. She recorded herself removing it and reported it to BSO that day. Records later showed Nathan had charged $702 to his American Express for a HAPN purchase in March 2024, one month after the first restraining order. A community service aide took the report, but the tracker was never collected as evidence. A deputy later claimed Mary’s phone number was disconnected; Mary contradicted this in a sworn statement.10NBC Miami. Video Captures Tamarac Mothers Panic as She Finds Tracker Installing such a device is a felony in Florida. The Miami Herald reported it took Detective Brittney King over two months to even begin collecting the tracker.11Miami Herald. BSO Internal Investigation Tamarac
On December 27, 2024, Mary reported that Nathan had snuck into her home and left a backpack containing plastic wrap, zip-tie handcuffs, rags, duct tape, and gloves. She told deputies directly: “He is planning to murder me.” The backpack was never collected.1WLRN. Tamarac Triple Murder Broward BSO Gingles
On December 30, 2024, Mary filed for a new domestic violence injunction, writing: “I am fearful for my life and I think it is imminent that he will attempt to murder me.” A temporary order was granted and served on Nathan on January 6, 2025. It stated he “shall not use or possess a firearm or ammunition” and had to surrender any weapons.8NBC Miami. Legislator Wants Guns Taken When Accused Domestic Abusers Get Injunctions When a deputy went to Nathan’s apartment to collect his weapons, Nathan claimed he did not have any. The deputy left, despite BSO’s own inventory of his arsenal less than a year earlier.7Miami Herald. BSO Domestic Violence Restraining Order Failures Deputies did not use Florida’s “red flag” law, which would have authorized a search warrant to seize the weapons.12CNN. Florida Deputies Fired Mary Gingles Killing
A detective did prepare a draft search warrant for the tracker’s electronic contents, dated January 16, 2025, but no judge ever signed it. A prosecutor rejected the warrant request on January 23, citing insufficient evidence, because deputies had never collected the physical tracker Mary had handed them.10NBC Miami. Video Captures Tamarac Mothers Panic as She Finds Tracker No further action was taken before February 16.
What BSO’s Investigation Found
The Broward Sheriff’s Office completed a 246-page internal affairs investigation in September 2025. The review took over 2,000 hours and included 47 sworn statements and hours of video footage.13Local 10. Broward Sheriff Releases Results of Investigation Into Tamarac Triple Homicide Sheriff Gregory Tony announced the findings on September 12, 2025.
Investigators concluded that deputies “failed their training.” Specific failures included refusing to investigate domestic violence reports as separate crimes, failing to collect the tracker and the backpack Mary had identified as evidence, and improperly closing reports as “informational.”1WLRN. Tamarac Triple Murder Broward BSO Gingles
The morning of the killings brought a second set of failures. Sergeant Travis Allen directed responding deputies to a “rally point” away from the scene instead of moving toward the gunfire, as BSO training requires. Deputies stayed in their vehicles for more than 20 minutes before approaching.13Local 10. Broward Sheriff Releases Results of Investigation Into Tamarac Triple Homicide Sheriff Tony estimated units could have reached the house within two minutes. Multiple deputies later told investigators they should have disregarded the sergeant’s order.11Miami Herald. BSO Internal Investigation Tamarac
Who Was Fired
Sheriff Tony fired eight employees in total. Six were terminated on September 12, 2025, following two earlier dismissals:
- Sergeant Travis Allen, whom Tony called “absolutely a coward” for ordering the rally point and for failing to stop Nathan on the road
- Captain Jemeriah Cooper, who oversaw the Tamarac district
- Detective Brittney King
- Deputy Daniel Munoz
- Sergeant Devoune Williams
- Deputy Lemar Blackwood
- Deputy Eric Klisiak
- Trainee Stephen Tapia
Eleven other personnel received suspensions. Deputy Sophie Riggs was suspended 15 days. Deputies Dia Cross, Eric Baldy, Daniel Lovallo, and Daimeon Nelson were each suspended 10 days. Deputy Ilany Cebalos was suspended five days. Lovallo’s suspension was tied specifically to not investigating Mary’s February 2024 report as a separate crime.1WLRN. Tamarac Triple Murder Broward BSO Gingles
“It is painful to say this, but it is the truth — we failed Mary Gingles, David Ponzer and Andrew Ferrin,” Tony said. “We had multiple opportunities to protect Mary during the months preceding her death.”14CBS News Miami. Tamarac Triple Murder Broward Deputies Fired He characterized the failures not as policy gaps but as “piss poor performance.”11Miami Herald. BSO Internal Investigation Tamarac
Six of the fired deputies, all members of IUPA Local 6020, are challenging their terminations through binding arbitration and seeking reinstatement with back pay. Union president Dan Rakofsky argued the deputies were following their sergeant’s coordination during a rapidly evolving situation.
The Criminal Case Against Nathan Gingles
Nathan Gingles, 43 at the time of the killings, was a U.S. Army veteran who served in the Signal Corps until 2019 and afterward worked as a security-cleared contractor for General Dynamics Information Technology out of U.S. Southern Command in Doral.15Stars and Stripes. Army Veteran Accused Murder Wife Father-in-Law Neighbor Mary’s divorce petition stated he owned 20 firearms, including semi-automatic handguns and assault-style rifles, many with silencers.16NBC Miami. Man Murdered Wife Her Father and Neighbor Warrant
He faces three counts of first-degree murder with a firearm, plus charges of violating a domestic violence injunction, interference with custody of a minor, kidnapping with intent to inflict bodily harm or terrorize, two counts of child abuse without great bodily harm, and two counts of armed burglary.17Broward Sheriff’s Office. Inmate Detail Nathan Gingles Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. He has pleaded not guilty and is being held without bond at the Broward Sheriff’s Office Main Jail.18Local 10. Evidence Trove Released in Tamarac Triple Murder Case
In March 2026, his attorneys from the Office of Regional Counsel moved to withdraw, citing “irreconcilable differences to an extreme degree” and stating that Gingles “harbors fixed beliefs” that had caused a breakdown in the attorney-client relationship.19NBC Miami. Attorneys for Tamarac Triple Murder Suspect Ask to Be Removed From Case Broward Circuit Judge Marina Garcia-Wood granted the withdrawal and appointed defense lawyer Mitch Polay.20Yahoo News. Judge Allows Lawyers Withdraw Defending No trial date has been set.
Custody of Seraphine
After the killings, four-year-old Seraphine was placed with a foster family, and a court-appointed guardian filed to expedite termination of Nathan’s parental rights.21NBC Miami. Child Placed With Fathers Relative After Tamarac Triple Murder In recorded jailhouse calls, Nathan insisted Seraphine not be placed with Mary’s family and urged his cousin, Damaris Barton-Schuler, to move the child out of Florida: “As long as the little girl gets out of here. That’s what I care about.”
Two family members are seeking custody: Barton-Schuler and Mary’s sister, Elizabeth Miller. As of February 2026, the guardianship case remains open and closed to the public, and it is unclear whether a judge has ruled on permanent placement.4Miami Herald. Tamarac Triple Murder Custody Miller told reporters she was initially granted visitation while Seraphine was in foster care but has not seen or spoken to the child since Seraphine was placed with Barton-Schuler.
The Florida Law the Case Would Change
The Gingles case exposed a gap in Florida law. Judges can order a domestic violence respondent to surrender firearms, but there was no clear enforcement mechanism when the subject simply claimed to have none.22WLRN. Family Court Domestic Violence Florida Broward Mary’s attorney, Kelley Joseph, said the injunctions amounted to “just a piece of paper.”
State Representative Robin Bartleman filed HB 729, with a companion bill, SB 858, filed by state Senator Tina Polsky. The legislation would apply the same search-warrant mechanisms used under Florida’s “red flag” law to domestic violence restraining orders, allowing law enforcement to actively seize firearms rather than rely on self-reporting by the respondent.