As he was led from the courtroom after sentencing, Urick turned briefly to glare in the direction of Gary's father, who was sitting among the crowd.
Young, 49, pled to being an accessory to murder-for-hire and carrying a firearm during a crime of violence and received a 20-year-sentence that would be added to the 51 months he still owed South Carolina authorities. Before entering into a plea, he told of Urick driving him from El Paso to Corpus Christi, then taking $180 in cash that had been removed from Patterson's body. Young, still using his twin's passport, then crossed the border into Mexico and traveled back to Honduras.
Michael Hogue
Solving the mystery of Gary Patterson's disappearance required the cooperation of multiple law enforcement agencies. Clockwise, from upper left: Texas Ranger Matt Cawthon and Waco detectives Kristina Woodruff and Steve January each played key roles in the investigation.
Peter Calvin
Solving the mystery of Gary Patterson's disappearance required the cooperation of multiple law enforcement agencies. From top: Texas Ranger Matt Cawthon and Waco detectives Kristina Woodruff and Steve January each played key roles in the investigation.
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Federal Judge Walter Smith, after sentencing Urick and Young, noted from the bench that he was "troubled" by the lack of federal participation in the investigation. He made no specific mention of the U.S. Marshals office, but it was, to those on hand who knew the tangled history of the case, a clear rebuke.
Lisa Urick Patterson, having earlier pled guilty to a charge of misprision of felony (knowing of plans to murder her ex-husband and not alerting authorities), received a three-year prison sentence that would be added to the two she was already serving for violation of terms of her parole. She has relinquished parental rights to her daughter, now 9, to her ex-husband's parents.
In El Paso, facing the same charges filed against Lisa, Craig Paulson, insisting he had no idea what the pickup he loaned Urick and Young would be used for, was acquitted.
Last February, Bill Johnston resigned his position as assistant U.S. attorney after becoming the target of national controversy. Upon learning that Justice Department officials had not divulged critical evidence that the FBI had, indeed, fired pyrotechnic tear gas grenades into the Davidian compound during the '93 standoff, he had written a letter to Attorney General Janet Reno alerting her to the matter. Soon thereafter, Johnston found himself persona non grata within his own Western District, stripped of responsibilities and no longer even invited to staff meetings. Today he is a lawyer in private practice in Waco.
Though other cases now occupy the time of detectives Woodruff and January, both stay in touch with Gary Patterson's family.
The .22 pistol that Ted Young had pointed at Gary Patterson that long ago night in the desert was finally surrendered to the authorities by Sam Urick's wife. It had, she said, been a family heirloom. Today it sits on a shelf in the Texas Rangers headquarters office of Matt Cawthon.
No keepsake collector, he refers to it simply as "a reminder."
