Chesapeake man sentenced to 68 years for killing wife after she got protective order
CHESAPEAKE — A Chesapeake man was sentenced Monday to 68 years in prison for breaking into his estranged wife’s home and fatally shooting her just days after she obtained a protective order against him.
The term issued to Ben Wynkoop was well over the 28-year maximum that state sentencing guidelines had recommended. The guidelines suggest a sentencing range based on a defendant’s background and the circumstances of the crime.
Circuit Judge Stephen Telfeyan said Wynkoop’s actions — which included going to Kathryn Dean’s house armed with a gun and breaking down her door when she wouldn’t let him in, all in violation of the protective order — warranted a sentence outside the guidelines.
Wynkoop, 48, told the judge he took responsibility for his actions and was sorry for what he’d done. But as a sheriff’s deputy led him away, he shouted a derogatory and expletive-laden sentence that Dean’s family believes was targeted at her.
A forensic psychologist testified Wynkoop has suffered from mental health problems most of his life, and has been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He wasn’t taking his medications at the time and was abusing methamphetamine, she said.
One of the things people with borderline personality disorder fear most is rejection and abandonment, the psychologist said.
The shooting happened on the morning of April 4, 2022, at Dean’s house in the East Great Bridge area. It was 12 days after she got a protective order preventing Wynkoop from having any contact with her, or possessing any firearms.
Wynkoop testified in his own defense at his trial last summer. He said he went to the front door first, then broke down a door to the garage after Dean refused to speak to him. Dean called 911, and the entire confrontation between the two was captured on the recording.
In it, Wynkoop repeatedly tells Dean he just wants to talk, while she repeatedly tells him to leave. Several shots are then heard. After a long silence, Dean is heard taking her last breaths.
Wynkoop said Dean had taken the safety off her gun and was aiming it at him when he shot her in self-defense. He fired seven rounds, with six striking Dean. Arriving officers found her dead on the floor of her garage, with her Smith & Wesson handgun next to her.
Wynkoop was charged with first-degree murder after his arrest, but the jury chose to convict him of second-degree murder, as well as violating a protective order, committing a burglary with the intent to assault and two firearm charges.
Senior Assistant Public Defender Faith Winstead on Monday described the couple’s four-year marriage as “toxic,” with both of them using drugs, filing assault charges against each other, and seeking protective orders.
Dean’s daughter from her first marriage, Katelyn Dean, testified Monday that on the day of the shooting, Kathryn Dean texted her, and that she rushed over to her mother’s house after calling 911. By the time she got there, the home was surrounded by police.
Katelyn Dean was 22 at the time. Dean’s other child, Noah Dean, was 16. Katelyn Dean testified Monday about seeing her mother at the morgue afterwards, and kissing her cold face.
“You are alive but you are not free,” Katelyn Dean said as she turned and looked at Wynkoop on Monday. “My mom isn’t alive but she is free. Free as a bird. Something I hope you will never be.”
Jane Harper, jane.harper@pilotonline.com
