Brittany Gorman, left, was stabbed to death by her estranged husband, Dylan Hanger, who was sentenced on Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023. (National Park Service)
A 31-year-old Missouri man was sentenced to 21 years in prison Tuesday for stabbing his estranged wife to death during an argument in the Ozarks over their children and their federal COVID-19 pandemic stimulus check, authorities said Tuesday.
Dylan J. Hanger was sentenced in a federal courtroom. Hanger pleaded guilty in 2022 to murder in the second degree, authorities said in a news release.
Hanger admitted to stabbing Brittany Gorman several times in the chest in an argument along the Jacks Fork River, in the Ozark National Scenic Riverways in Texas County, Mo., on May 20, 2020, officials said.
According to court documents, Hanger began planning to kill his wife in the months leading up to May 2020. He had three children with her, ages 5, 7, and 10.
When they met at the Buck Hollow Access Area, Hanger stabbed his wife at least four times. He dumped her body in a remote location.
For nine days, Hanger maintained that Gorman was missing and suggested that it was due to her drug connections, authorities said.
Then on May 21, 2020, authorities discovered Gorman’s unoccupied pickup truck at the Ozark National Scenic Riverways at Buck Hollow, according to a news release from the National Park Service. Investigators found items they said indicated she may have been injured.
Officials said that Hanger eventually admitted what he had done and revealed the location of Gorman’s body in the Mark Twain National Forest in Ozark County.
“The tragic outcome of this investigation is not what I had hoped and prayed for since Brittany was reported missing,” Sheriff Scott Lindsey said then. “I want to commend the investigative team of Deputies, National Park Service Special Agents, Rangers, Missouri State Highway Patrol investigators, and surrounding law enforcement agencies that worked extensively over past ten days to find Brittany and ultimately seek justice upon her behalf.”