One year after a Washington County, Maryland, judge was murdered in the driveway of his home, more information about what led up to the killing and about the hunt for the man who did it has been released.
On Oct. 19, 2023, Maryland Circuit Court Judge Andrew Wilkinson, 52, was found with gunshot wounds shortly before 8 p.m. outside his home in Hagerstown.
In court documents released Friday, detectives said Wilkinson’s wife was in her bedroom at the time of the shooting, listening to an audiobook when she thought she heard gunshots. The couple’s son was also inside the home.
Thinking her husband had gone outside for a walk, she went to check on him and found Wilkinson lying wounded in the driveway. Then, she called 911.
Washington County Sheriff’s deputies and EMS personnel arrived at the scene in minutes, and Wilkinson was rushed to a nearby hospital. He was pronounced dead within the hour.
That night, detectives were able to narrow down the search for a suspect, based on Wilkinson’s court schedule for the day, and a neighbor’s Ring doorbell camera footage.
On the day of the shooting, Wilkinson had presided over one hearing, a divorce proceeding between an estranged couple. The husband, Pedro Argote, of Frederick County, was not present at the hearing, but his wife and daughter from another relationship delivered emotional testimony about the abuse he inflicted upon them for years.
Wilkinson ultimately awarded the wife sole custody of their four children.
When officers arrived at Argote’s Hagerstown home about an hour after the shooting, Argote’s wife told them she knew he was going to “do something in retaliation for the hearing that day.”
According to court documents, she “alluded to the fact that (Argote) was violent and controlling throughout their relationship,” She also told officers that days before the shooting he informed her, “This is all going to be over on the 19th.”
At the same time, investigators were reviewing surveillance video from Wilkinson’s neighbors to track the suspect’s car. Wilkinson’s next-door neighbor had video of what appeared to be a silver SUV, stopping and parking in front of Wilkinson’s home only moments before the judge was shot.
Argote’s wife confirmed he drove a Silver 2009 Mercedes-Benz GL 450 SUV. Search warrants and subpoenas were issued for his cellphone location and it was found that he had shut his phone minutes before the shooting.
Around 3 a.m. the next morning, officers obtained a search warrant for Argote’s residence in Frederick County, and among the items seized was a duffel bag containing used and unused ammunition, three .9mm pistols, and a factory box for Argote’s registered Glock .9mm.
Investigators also found a will on Argote’s desk with a handwritten note to his children.
One of the boxes of live ammunition was determined as the same brand of ammunition recovered from the scene of the shooting.
Two days after the shooting, Argote and his SUV were still not located; investigators held several press conferences and released information about Argote and his vehicle to the public.
On Oct. 21, a passerby called 911 and reported seeing the missing SUV in the woods off a roadway in Williamsport, Washington County — 11 miles from the crime scene. Argote was not in the SUV, but detectives did find a Glock-style 20 round magazine near the driver’s seat.
After several days of searching the heavily wooded area, on Oct. 26, a Maryland State Police search team found his body. Argote’s registered pistol was lying near him and a medical examiner concluded he had shot himself.
In September of this year, the Forensic Science Division of the Maryland State Police confirmed that the same gun was used to kill Judge Wilkinson.
Wilkinson was sworn in as a circuit court judge in 2020. The 1994 University of North Carolina graduate received his law degree from Emory University School of Law in 1997 and then became a circuit court law clerk in Washington County. The circuit court judge was a longtime resident of Hagerstown and heavily involved in the community.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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