Several days after an accused murdered went missing days before his scheduled trial, prosecutors said they have emails that prove they insisted that his GPS tracker stay on his body, KVUE's and the Austin American-Statesman's Tony Plohetski has learned.
Kevin Waguespack is accused of killing his girlfriend Catherine Dyer in 2015. Waguespack was released on a $200,000 bond after he was arrested in Mississippi, where he fled after Catherine was killed. He was forced then to wear an ankle monitoring bracelet, but this summer, a Travis County judge ruled that bracelet could be removed. Waguespack was set to stand trial on Monday after his pre-trial hearing that was scheduled for the previous Thursday. He didn't show up for either of those.
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Police are now actively looking for Waguespack.
Court records show his lawyer wanted the GPS tracker removed because of work reasons.
The emails obtained by Plohetski show Judge Tamara Needles did ask prosecutors in April what they thought about taking the tracker off of him. But when they didn't respond the next day, she signed an order to go ahead and do it.
According to a timeline of those emails, Judge Needles sent a message to lawyers in the case on April 11. The next day -- on April 12 -- she signed an order removing the GPS monitor. And on April 13, prosecutors sent an email to her objecting and saying that Waguespack should be monitored because he is dangerous.
Others familiar with what happened point out that prosecutors did learn in June that the tracker had been removed, but did not exercise options available to them to get it put back on. That lead prosecutor told Plohetski he was afraid it would have fallen on deaf ears anyway.
It is unknown when Waguespack disappeared.
That decision is now being sharply criticized by prosecutors and Travis County District Attorney Margaret Moore.
"We have accused him of beating and shooting his girlfriend," Moore said. "She has a family, he's dangerous, and there are people who need to see that he is held accountable. And that's our job, so we need to get him back into custody so we can have the trial."
Dyer's family told KVUE they are distraught that Waguespack is missing.
Judge Needles said she can't publicly comment on the case.
