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Daughter of Delaware Courthouse Shooter, Deeply Involved in Abduction

delaware law enforcement

Federal prosecutors are charging that the daughter of the New Castle Courty Courthouse shooter of being deeply involved in the 2007 kidnapping of her brother’s three children.

The Wilmington News Journal reports that 41 year old Amy Gonzalez was never charged in the abduction of the children that David Matusiewicz had with Christine Belford.

But the paper says prosecutors said she sent $50-thousand to her mother and brother as they escaped with the children in Central America.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jamie McCall said that records show Gonzalez lied to authorities in 2007 and that there were extensive phone and email communication with her fugitive family members while they were on the run. 

Detention Hearing Postponed

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) - A federal judge has postponed a detention hearing for Gonzalez in order to give her defense attorney more time to prepare his case.

The judge on Thursday continued the hearing until next week after a prosecutor recited the government's allegations against her, drawing several objections from the defense.

Gonzalez is charged with conspiring with her parents and brother to torment and stalk her former sister-in-law, Christine Belford, following Belford's bitter divorce and custody battle against Gonzalez' brother, David Matusiewicz.

David Matusiewicz's father, Thomas Matusiewicz, fatally shot Belford and her friend, Laura Mulford, in February after they showed up for a child support hearing. He then exchanged gunfire with police before killing himself.

Don Rush is the News Director at Delmarva Public Media. An award-winning journalist, Don reports major local issues of the day, from sea level rise, to urban development, to the changing demographics of Delmarva.