Jessica Brown of the OSBI said Gene Kirkpatrick, the slain man’s father-in-law, paid a handyman $3,000 and promised more for him to go to North Dakota and kill Phillip Gattuso.
Kirkpatrick, who lives in far east Oklahoma City, was not happy with the way Gattuso was raising his 3-year-old daughter since her mother’s death in March, Brown said.
Kirkpatrick was arrested on complaints of conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to commit burglary. Kirkpatrick was being held without bail in the Oklahoma County jail Monday night.
Michael Allen Nakvinda, a 41-year-old Oklahoma City man who authorities have said was the Kirkpatricks’ handyman, was charged in Cass County, N.D., with murder, robbery, burglary and theft Monday.
On the day Gattuso was killed by multiple blows to the head with a hammer, police say a truck and a trailer they believe were driven by Nakvinda arrived at a Fargo bowling alley.
From the alley, a block south of Gattuso’s condominium, the truck’s driver was caught on video walking across a street toward a restaurant. A restaurant video showed a person crossing the parking lot toward a spot where there’s a view of Gattuso’s garage and front door.
Gattuso took his daughter to day care at 8:30 a.m., then missed a teleconference he’d set for 10:30 a.m.
At some point in those two hours, police say they think Gattuso came home and was beaten in the head with a hammer by Nakvinda, who has a violent criminal past.
Authorities believe Nakvinda stole Gattuso’s 1999 Porsche Boxster convertible and an assortment of consumer electronics.
39° 