Oklahoma City man admits plot to kill N.D. dentist, police say

BY ROBERT MEDLEY and NOLAN CLAY
Published: November 4, 2009

An Oklahoma City man confessed to hiring a handyman to kill his son-in-law in North Dakota, police reported Tuesday. He also admitted videotaping the son-in-law’s condominium as part of the plan.

Philip Gattuso is shown with his daughter, Kennedy. Gattuso, a dentist formerly of Oklahoma City, was killed Oct. 26 at his home in Fargo, N.D. Gattuso’s father-in-law, Gene Kirkpatrick, and Michael Allen Nakvinda have been charged in his killing. To read the counts against Gene Kirkpatrick, the arrest warrant and other related documents, go to Today’s Paper at NewsOK.com/TheOklahoman. PHOTO PROVIDED BY GATTUSO’S FAMILY

Multimedia

Videoview all videos

Kirkpatrick refuses to be extradited

Nov 3Oklahoma City man, Gene Kirkpatrick, is accused in the North Dakota...

Photoview all photos

Documents

Read the counts against Gene Kirkpatrick
Read the counts, the arrest warrant and other related documents.

NewsOK Related Articles

Slain N.D. dentist’s brother plans to seek...
11/04/2009 FARGO, N.D. — Philip Gattuso’s family is asking North Dakota authorities to take custody of the slain Fargo dentist’s 3-year-old daughter....
Court records reveal violent past of Oklahoma City man
11/04/2009 The man accused of a contract killing in North Dakota belonged to a violent armed robbery gang that pulled a series of "blitz”-style home...

Gene Kirkpatrick said he told the handyman he wanted his son-in-law "gone or dead and had felt this way for quite a while,” police reported.

Kirkpatrick, 63, was charged Tuesday in Cass County, N.D., with conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to commit burglary. He was arrested Monday at his home. He told an Oklahoma County judge Tuesday he wanted to stay in Oklahoma and fight extradition. He is in the Oklahoma County jail.

The handyman, Michael Allen Nakvinda, 41, of Oklahoma City, is charged in North Dakota with murder, robbery, burglary and theft. He is in the Oklahoma County jail awaiting transfer to North Dakota.

Police said Nakvinda became a suspect because he was suspected of stealing the victim’s distinctive 1999 Porsche. Police used surveillance camera recordings to identify him. The Porsche was found Monday morning in a storage shed in Oklahoma City.

The victim, Philip Gattuso, 49, was a dentist in Fargo. He died from multiple blows to the head with a hammer. His body was found Oct. 26 at his condominium.

Kirkpatrick confessed Saturday night during an interview with a Fargo police detective and an Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation agent, a Fargo police lieutenant reported in a court affidavit. Police did not explain why he was not arrested immediately.

Police reported Kirkpatrick "expressed concern over the way” Gattuso was raising his daughter since the death of her mother, Valerie, in March. The two married in 2001. Their daughter is 3 years old. A brother of the victim told the Fargo newspaper that Kirkpatrick had made baseless child abuse allegations.

Kirkpatrick admitted paying Nakvinda $3,000 on Oct. 23 or 24 at a McDonald’s restaurant in Oklahoma City, according to the affidavit. He also told police he had agreed to pay Nakvinda $10,000 more "from a business he intended to start.” He told police he later decided to pay Nakvinda $20,000 instead.

He told police they discussed price after Nakvinda said he knew somebody who would do the killing for $100,000, according to the affidavit. "Mr. Kirkpatrick told Mr. Nakvinda he could not afford that kind of money.”

Kirkpatrick also admitted to videotaping his son-in-law’s residence for Nakvinda in October and to telling Nakvinda his son-in-law’s calendar showed no appointments for Oct. 26, the affidavit shows.

Police reported Nakvinda’s mother said he had done numerous odd jobs for Kirkpatrick, including painting Kirkpatrick’s house.

Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater on Tuesday said prosecutors in North Dakota will handle the case.

‘Normal, everyday family’

Kirkpatrick and his wife, Sharon, live in a house in a semi-rural part of northeast Oklahoma City.

A neighbor, Scott Seco, called Kirkpatrick "a real nice guy.”

"Nice family. Never had any trouble with him at all. No disturbances,” Seco said.

He said he chatted casually with Kirkpatrick when the two mowed near fence lines.

The Kirkpatricks would ride around in the evening in a golf cart and tended to horses. Seco said Gene Kirkpatrick worked in telecommunications.

"They are a normal, everyday family as far as I am concerned,” he said.

Another neighbor, Russell Garr, 18, said he did yard work for Gene Kirkpatrick for the past eight years.

"He’s a great man,” Garr said.

"I think really highly of that guy, so that is all I am going to say.”

Kirkpatrick and his wife were the main early contributors to an Internet blog set up to chronicle their daughter’s illnesses. Valerie Gattuso died after living about 18 months with an artificial heart.

In 28 pages of blog posts, the Kirkpatricks and other friends and family detail painful surgeries, treatments and moves between hospitals in Minnesota and Oklahoma endured by Valerie Gattuso as she fought for her life.

Philip Gattuso is rarely mentioned in any of the posts.

Valerie Gattuso wrote at least two of the blog posts herself but did not mention her husband in either.

CONTRIBUTING: JOHNNY JOHNSON AND MICHAEL KIMBALL, STAFF WRITERS