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Missouri Man Sentenced To 21 Years For Killing Estranged Wife Over COVID Stimulus Checks
Dylan J. Hanger told friends and family of his estranged wife Brittany Gorman that he had no idea where she was for the nine days after her abandoned truck was found in May 2020. But he allegedly stabbed her at least four times in the chest.
A Missouri man who allegedly killed the mother of his three children on their Ozarks vacation during an argument over pandemic stimulus checks was sentenced to 21 years in prison without parole on Tuesday.
Dylan J. Hanger, now 31, began plotting to kill his estranged wife Brittany Gorman, 29, in the months leading up to their trip in May of 2020, according to a Department of Justice press release.
Hanger took a plea deal on May 10 of 2022, and on Tuesday, he was sentenced by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to 21 years and 10 months in federal prison without parole, and a $250,000 fine.
Hanger and Gorman met up at the Buck Hollow Access Area along the Jacks Fork River in the Ozark National Scenic Riverways on May 20, 2020, the Justice Department states. According to a plea agreement obtained by Law and Crime, the couple began arguing over their stimulus check and children; aged 5, 7 and 10.
Hanger stabbed his wife in the chest at least four times, according to court documents, then dumped her body in the Mark Twain National Forest.
The next day, park rangers found Gorman's pickup truck in the Buck Hollow area, according to a press release from the National Park Service, with her eyeglasses inside and pools of blood near the driver's side door.
Before revealing the location of Gorman's body on May 30, Hanger maintained to her family that he didn't know where she had gone and suggested her disappearance was related to her "drug connections," according to the Department of Justice.
When he was first arrested, accused of second-degree murder and interstate domestic violence, he denied any involvement in his wife's disappearance in interviews with Texas County Sheriff's deputies. Later, according to court documents, he told authorities he got into a physical fight with Gorman and she died in the process.
"The tragic outcome of this investigation is not what I had hoped and prayed for since Brittany was reported missing," Sheriff Scott Lindsey said when Gorman's body was found. "I want to commend the investigative team of deputies, National Park Service Special Agents, Rangers, Missouri State Highway Patrol Investigators, and surrounding law enforcement agencies that worked extensively over the past ten days to find Brittany and ultimately seek justice on her behalf."
