After a week-long search, the police located Pedro Argote’s body and confirmed that he had passed away. Argote was the person who was being sought for questioning in connection with the homicide of Judge Andrew Wilkinson of the Maryland Circuit Court.
An “expanded evidentiary search” was conducted in the Williamsport area at 11 a.m. on Thursday, according to a statement that was posted on Facebook by the Washington County Sheriff’s Office. The statement added that a passed individual, who has been definitively identified as Argote, was discovered during the search.
During a news conference that took place on Thursday afternoon, Sheriff Brian K. Albert said that the remains of Argote were sent to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore. The findings of the autopsy will determine the cause and manner of passing whenever they are available.
According to the agency, his corpse was discovered in a highly forested region about one mile to the northwest of where the car belonging to the 49-year-old man was discovered. On Saturday, law enforcement officials located and reclaimed a silver 2009 Mercedes GL450 that belonged to Argote close to the West Virginia state line.
Since the dangerous shooting of Judge Wilkinson, who was 52 years old and worked in the Washington County Circuit Court, on October 19, the authorities had been hunting for Argote. According to the Associated Press, Wilkinson was murdered only a few hours after he had agreed to let Argote’s divorced wife have custody of their four children, who were aged 12, 11, 5, and 3.
Even up to a $10,000 reward was being offered by the United States Marshals Service for information that would lead to his capture.
According to a press statement issued by the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, Wilkinson was discovered on his driveway in Hagerstown on October 19 at around 8 o’clock at night “suffering from what appeared to be gunshot wounds.” He was brought to Meritus Medical Center, which is where he ultimately passed away from his injuries.
Earlier on the same day, Wilkinson issued a ruling that went against Argote in the divorce suit he had filed against his estranged wife. According to NBC News, the judge ordered Argote to pay monthly child support and prohibited him from having any contact with his children.
According to the website for the circuit court, Wilkinson received his undergraduate degree in economics from the University of North Carolina and then went on to get his law degree from Emory University in 1997. He worked as an attorney at Barton & Williams and Divelbiss & Wilkinson until opening his own legal business in 2018, during which time he also served on the boards of directors for a number of different groups.