MURDER IN TEXAS COUNTY

A Eunice man is in Texas County Jail after a March 28 shooting left a mother of three dead. Joshua Goodchild, 43, faces a charge of first-degree murder among other felonies in the slaying of his sister-in-law, Nikki Goodchild.

"This is a tragic case. I pray for comfort for the family and friends of the victim," said Texas County Sheriff Scott Lindsey in a press release. 

Texas County 911 received an emergency call at 5:45 p.m. the day of the shooting. The caller was a 12-year-old girl who told the dispatcher she came home from school to find her mother on the living room floor covered in blood, reads the probable cause statement filed by Deputy Rowdy Douglas of the TCSO. 

Law enforcement arrived on the scene to find the deceased on the floor just inside the front door with one bullet wound to the head, two to the chest, and one to the shoulder. A single bullet casing was found at the scene near the front door.

As deputies investigated the scene, the husband of the deceased named Joshua Goodchild as a suspect. The husband told deputies Goodchild "has had resentment towards him and Nikki since they took over the family farm." Goodchild was known to his brother to possess several firearms. The accused was also in the habit of posting publicly available videos of himself shooting different firearms on social media. After further investigation and interviewing family members of both the deceased and the accused, "there were no other likely suspects identified," says the probable cause statement. 

Deputies served a search warrant on Goodchild's residence on March 29 and found "numerous" firearms matching the deceased's wounds and the shell casing found at the murder scene. 

In an interview at his residence, Goodchild admitted to deputies that he and the deceased had had a confrontation, but denied that he had been to her home recently. 

In a subsequent interview at the Texas County Sheriff's Office, Goodchild spent several minutes describing the "conspiracy he believed had been perpetrated against him 'by the United States government' and confiding that the 'CIA was targeting him.'"

In the course of this interview, Sergeant Graham Applegate showed Goodchild a game camera "as an interview prop," told him it belonged to his brother (the husband of the deceased), and asked him why he was photographed at their house on the day of the murder. The accused responded that he "would have to claim self-defense," and asked for an attorney. 

Texas County Prosecuting Attorney Parke Stevens is seeking first degree murder, armed criminal action, first degree burglary, and unlawful use of a weapon charges against Goodchild. The accused has been held in the Texas County Jail without bond since March 30.

His next court appearance is scheduled for April 12 for a counsel status.