When Angela Prichard arrived at work at the Mississippi Ridge Kennels in Bellevue, Iowa, the morning of Oct. 8, 2022, she did not anticipate her estranged husband, Christopher Prichard, would be waiting inside with a shotgun. What was meant to be a routine morning turned into tragedy when Christopher Prichard fatally shot her in the chest.
Special Agent Dustin Henningsen from the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation led the case. «You can hear dogs start to bark in the middle of the night. We had determined that was most likely the point when he arrived at the kennels,» Henningsen told CBS News correspondent Jonathan Vigliotti in an interview for «48 Hours.» An encore of «Could Angela Prichard Have Been Saved?» is streaming on Paramount+.
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Henningsen added it was «very, very early in the morning, when there was no daylight … close to 4 a.m.»
According to investigators, a day earlier on Oct. 7, Christopher Prichard snuck into an acquaintance’s barn a few miles away from the kennels and later trekked through the woods in the middle of the night. Angela Prichard’s sister, Wendy Budde, told «48 Hours» Christopher Prichard knew the combination to get inside.
When Angela Prichard arrived in the morning to tend to the dogs, Christopher Prichard appeared with a shotgun. Angela Prichard called 911 almost immediately and is heard yelling «please get out» before yelling «Chris!» The sound of a gunshot can be heard on the 911 call. She ultimately named her killer.
Just weeks earlier on Sept. 1, Angela Prichard had been granted a restraining order against her husband after she said she was continuously harassed, stalked and threatened by him. Angela Prichard had even left the home they shared and moved in with her sister. Nine days before Angela Prichard’s murder, an arrest warrant was issued for Christopher Prichard for violating the restraining order. Angela Prichard’s family tells» 48 Hours» police should have done more to arrest Christopher Prichard. They say in a small town like Bellevue, he was easy to find.
After about 16 hours on the run, Christopher Prichard was arrested and charged with first-degree murder and robbery. He was found guilty and in March 2024, he was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Angela Prichard’s family filed a lawsuit against the City of Bellevue and three police officers for failing to perform their job. In January 2025, a federal judge dismissed the case in its entirety and the family is now appealing the decision.
