Husband stabs estranged wife to death during fight over stimulus check, kids, feds say

Months before officials say a man stabbed his estranged wife to death in a Missouri national park, he began making plans to kill her, according to federal authorities.

Now 31-year-old Dylan J. Hanger from Mountain View, Missouri, has been sentenced to 21 years and 10 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder, records show.

Hanger’s defense attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment from McClatchy News.

Authorities said Hanger first told a friend in January 2020 that he was planning to kill his wife, who he shared three kids with.

“In March 2020, he explored buying a firearm, but did not want to type into Facebook why he wanted it,” prosecutors said in a sentencing memorandum. “In early May, he tried out an alibi. At some point, he removed the knife he later used to kill his wife from his home.”

Then on May 20, 2020, authorities said Hanger met his estranged wife, Brittany Gorman, at a convenience store.

“He said he put gas in her truck and gave her a $2,000 check for her part of their stimulus money — a check he knew would bounce — if he gave her that check at all,” according to court records.

Later that day, he met Gorman at Buck Hollow, a river access point in Ozark National Scenic Riverways, according to his plea agreement.

While in the national park, the estranged couple “argued about their children and their federal stimulus check,” McClatchy News reported in May.

Hanger then stabbed his wife at least four times, killing her, authorities said.

After Gorman was killed, authorities said Hanger dumped her body in a remote location and secured his alibi with a friend, according to court records.

“For nine days, (he) maintained to both Gorman’s family and law enforcement that Gorman was missing and suggested that it was due to her drug connections,” authorities said. “When the defendant finally admitted what he had done and revealed the location of Gorman’s body on May 30, 2020, Gorman’s body, when recovered by law enforcement, was no (longer) intact.”

Gorman is remembered “as a loving mother, daughter, sister and friend,” according to her online obituary. She loved raising her three kids, boating on the lake and spending time with family.

The children Hanger and Gorman shared are now 10, 7 and 5, according to the sentencing memorandum.

“For the rest of their lives, they will have to live without their mother and deal with the fact that their father murdered their mother,” prosecutors said. “There are no good answers to the questions they will ask. There are no answers at all.”

Hanger is not eligible for parole, authorities said.

Ozark National Scenic Riverways is about 140 miles east of Springfield. The national park is about 35 miles northeast of Hanger’s home in Mountain View.

If you are experiencing domestic violence and need someone to talk to, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline for support at 1-800-799-7233 or text “START” to 88788.

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