Fugitive Who Murdered Wife in 2020 Then Apologized to Kids on YouTube Kills Himself as Police Close In

On New Year’s Eve, police in Florida received a tip that Trent Paschal, who was wanted in the murder of his wife, Savannah Paschal, was asleep in a van at an RV park

A La Marque, Texas man who allegedly killed his 30-year-old wife in 2020 and went on the run after stealing a Chevy Tahoe at knifepoint from a car dealership killed himself as police closed in on him.

Authorities had been searching for Trent Paschal since he fled in April of 2021 while he was out on a $550,000 bond after being charged in connection with the death of his wife, 30-year-old Savannah Paschal, on Oct. 21, 2020.

On New Year’s Eve, police in Marion County, Fla., got a tip from a 911 call that Paschal had been spotted sleeping in a van at an RV Park, Deputy U.S. Marshal Alfredo Perez said at a press conference Monday.

Deputies raced to the Holiday Trav-l Park RV Resort in Ocala, where they located Paschal, KTRK reports.

“They tried to make contact with him and heard a gunshot,” Perez said.

After the gun went off, deputies waited to approach him, Perez said.

“Police officers know probably the most dangerous criminal is one who has skipped out on his bond, one that has cut his monitor off, one that has evaded law enforcement right after he gets out of jail,” Perez said.

“So, they didn’t approach for a while. When they did make the approach, they found a white male deceased in the back of the van.”

Trent was pronounced dead at the scene.

Trent was also in possession of two weapons.

Paschal’s suicide is “bittersweet for the family of Savannah,” Andy Kahan, director of victim services and advocacy with Crime Stoppers Houston, said at the press conference.

Savannah’s mother, Shirley Kinchen, thanked the tipster who led law enforcement to Trent.

“Did I want him to be held responsible for his actions? Did I want to look him in the eye and for him to face me again with what he had done? Yes,” she said. “Am I sorry that he longer walks on this earth? No.”

The family’s ordeal began on Oct. 21, 2020, when Trent allegedly waited for Savannah in the bathroom of their master bedroom and shot her, according to a probable cause affidavit obtained by PEOPLE.

She had told him she didn’t want to live with him anymore.

Before the shooting, Trent allegedly posted a video on YouTube, saying, “I told her not to mess with me, not to mess with my emotions,” KTRK reports.

After the shooting, he allegedly apologized to his young children in a recording captured by a neighbor that went viral online.

As part of Trent’s bond release, he was ordered to wear an ankle monitor.

But on April 13, authorities believe he removed the monitor, which failed to send an alert to authorities, KTRK reports.

Free of the ankle monitor, police allege that Trent went to a Houston car dealership and took a black Chevy Tahoe for a test drive, KTRK reports.