Prosecutors to seek death penalty for husband in Florida triple murder

Shira Moolten, South Florida Sun Sentinel on Mar 14, 2025

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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Prosecutors will seek the death penalty against Nathan Gingles, the man accused of fatally shooting his wife, her father and an unsuspecting neighbor as he hunted her down through her Tamarac neighborhood last month, according to a notice filed Thursday.

A grand jury indicted Gingles on three counts of first-degree murder with a firearm, kidnapping, two counts of child abuse, and violation of a domestic violence injunction last week. He pleaded not guilty.

In their notice to seek the death penalty, prosecutors with the Broward State Attorney’s Office pointed to several aggravating factors in each of the three deaths: the number of people Gingles is accused of killing at the same time; that he is accused of killing them while kidnapping his daughter, 4-year-old Seraphine; that each murder was “especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel” and committed in a “cold, calculating and premeditated manner;” and that two of the people he is accused of killing, his wife Mary Gingles and her father, David Ponzer, either had a domestic violence injunction against him or were family members of the person with the injunction.

Prosecutors also argued that Gingles killed Andrew Ferrin, the neighbor, and Ponzer in order to avoid arrest.

Mary Gingles had documented her husband’s intent to kill her in court petitions and law enforcement incident reports dating back to when they lived together. In the months leading up to her death, her situation grew more dire, and she wrote in her most recent petition for a domestic violence injunction that she thought he would kill her by the end of February.

In addition to telling their daughter about his desire to kill her, he had entered her home while she was out, left windows ajar with a ladder underneath and placed a bag full of suspicious items in her garage, including a note about air embolisms, according to Mary Gingles’ petition.

Should Gingles’ defense team seek to argue that his mental health is a mitigating factor, prosecutors are asking for advanced notice and to have him examined with a mental health expert of their own choosing if he is convicted.

His next hearing is set for May 15.

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