WILLIAMSPORT, Md. — Investigators on Thursday discovered the body of a man accused of shooting and killing a Hagerstown judge in his driveway — ending a week-long manhunt in a crime that has shocked the Maryland community.
The Washington County Sheriff's Office said the body of 49-year-old Pedro Argote was found Thursday morning in a heavily wooded area between Clear Spring Road and Bottom Road in Williamsport, Maryland. The area is roughly a mile northwest of where his car was found abandoned on Saturday in the small community along the Potomac River.
Argote's remains were found Thursday on private property which is used for deer hunting during a systematic search of the area with multiple law enforcement agencies.
"The Washington County community can breathe a little easier this afternoon. Murder suspect Pedro Argote was located deceased," Washington County Sheriff Brian Albert said.
The timing and manner of his death will not be known until after an autopsy in Baltimore, the sheriff said.
The sheriff's office has been looking for Argote, since Oct. 19, when he allegedly gunned down Maryland Circuit Court Judge Andrew Wilkinson in the driveway of his home on Olde Waterford Road. Albert said Wilkinson had ruled against Argote during a custody hearing earlier in the day.
"This was a targeted attack on Judge Wilkinson," Albert said.
>Watch Thursday's press conference below:
During the hearing, Argote's adult daughter from a previous relationship said she spent most of her teenage years confined to her bedroom, the Associated Press reported. She said Argote had cameras installed throughout the house and was “watching my every move.” During emotional testimony, she said he would beat her with a belt and other objects — “whatever he had close by.”
“The reason I worked up the courage to testify was so that my siblings wouldn’t have to go through the mental torment that I currently have,” she told the court, explaining that she left home at 18 to escape the abuse and hadn’t had contact with her father since.
Wilkinson concluded that Argote wasn’t fit to have custody of his four younger children, ages 12, 11, 5 and 3.
“The manner in which Mr. Argote has isolated these children and mom over the past two years, I think that has gone on throughout the marriage, and it’s shocking,” the judge said. “I think he is abusive in multiple ways.”
Although Argote did not attend the hearing, police said he went to Wilkinson's home the same evening and opened fire on the judge. Wilkinson was found lying in his driveway and was rushed to Meritus Medical Center for treatment, where he later died from his injuries.
Wilkinson's wife and son were at home at the time of the shooting.
The sheriff's office identified Argote Friday morning as the suspected shooter, and warned he should be considered armed and dangerous. Albert said police were searching for a silver Mercedes Argote was believed to be driving. The vehicle was found abandoned Saturday morning along a stretch of Bottom Road in Williamsport.
According to the sheriff's office, Argote did not have a criminal record in Washington County, however deputies have responded to his home in the past for verbal domestic assaults. The sheriff's office said at the time of the shooting, Argote legally owned a handgun.
Wilkinson's family received news of Thursday's discovery as they prepare for funeral services for the judge on Friday in Hagerstown.
The Associated Press contributed to the reporting of this story.