Stephen Gudknecht, 37, was shot and killed during an armed robbery at a Chili’s in DeWitt, New York, late one September night in 2018. Gudknecht, who was finishing his shift as a manager, was leaving the restaurant with three co-workers when a former employee, William Wood Jr., confronted them and forced them back inside at gunpoint.

After demanding money from the safe and taking accessible cash, Wood shot and killed Gudknecht and another employee, Kristopher Hicks. Two other employees escaped when a third shot failed to fire; a 911 call was placed from the restaurant but responders found Gudknecht already deceased and Hicks later died at a hospital.

The investigation identified William Wood Jr. as the suspect and he was arrested; he later pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder and other charges and received life without parole.