Gattuso's father-in-law is charged with conspiracy to commit murder and burglary

Fargo, ND (WDAY TV) - Late this evening police announced they've made a second arrest in Philip Gattuso's murder and it's Gattuso's father in law. 63-year old Gene Kirkpatrick is Gattuso's late wife's father. He's charged with conspiracy to commit murder and burglary. As you know, Gattuso was found dead in his ransacked home in south Fargo a week ago tonight.

A bizarre twist in this case tonight, we've learned from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation that Gene Kirkpatrick, Gattuso's father-in law, was arrested late tonight. Authorities there say Kirkpatrick hired Michael Nakvinda to drive to North Dakota and beat up or kill Gattuso because he didn't like the way he was raising his granddaughter.

Nakvinda was arrested over the weekend for the murder. He was a handyman for Kirkpatrick. Kirkpatrick agreed to pay Nakvinda three thousand dollars and promised more money. Tonight Fargo Police talked about what led to the arrest.

“The ID of Mr. Kirkpatrick as a suspect in the case is, as I've said in the past, a combination of investigative leads, physical evidence, testimony, all led us to believe that Mr. Kirkpatrick conspired in the death of Dr. Gattuso.”

Prosecutors today charged 41-year-old Michael Nakvinda with murder in connection with Gattuso's death. Nakvinda was arrested on Saturday and remains in jail in Oklahoma City tonight.

The Oklahoma man could spend life in prison, after court documents show he killed Gatusso with a hammer. On top of the murder charges, he also faces charges for burglary and theft.

This morning, Nakvinda waived extradition. Authorities will try and bring Nakvinda to Cass County in the next 10-days.

"It turned into a thousand mile case. It's always a lot of work, but it gets more complicated when you put some distance in there. You know, I don't suspect that the first thing we thought of is that we'd be traveling a thousand miles to wrap this case up and make an arrest."

This morning, Nakvinda waived extradition. Authorities will try and bring Nakvinda to Cass County in the next 10-days. Meantime, police found what they called the key to this murder investigation, the missing silver Porsche Boxster.

Someone from Young's Camper and Boat Storage in Oklahoma City saw a story on TV about the missing car. They later saw the same Porsche being driven into the storage unit and called police. Authorities found other things in the storage unit too. They won't say if or how Nakvinda was connected to the unit.

"We have seized that along with other property that you can see inside the vehicle and that is at an undisclosed location. We will go through that, see any other evidence that was left inside the car that would point to this suspect as the doctor's killer."

Court documents show more than 10-thousand dollars worth, including the car and other electronics, was stolen. Police say they will look at the car for evidence, and then it will be turned over to the family.