FORT BEND COUNTY, Texas — A Houston man has been arrested and charged in the 2019 shooting death of a young Katy father who was killed on his birthday.
Brenton Estorffe, 29, was gunned down while trying to protect his wife and two small children when someone broke into their home on Glen Rosa Drive, according to the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office.
Editor's note: The above video originally aired in Oct. of 2019.
“I’m sorry, I have two kids in the house, I don’t know what to do,” the victim's terrified wife told the 911 dispatcher.
Estorffe died from a bullet wound to the chest.
More than two years later, the FBCSO said Jadon Ezra Carpy, 21, was arrested at his Houston home with help from the Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Task Force.
“Another life was taken away so tragically in the hands of a criminal,” Sheriff Eric Fagan said. “Although we cannot bring Mr. Estorffe back to his family, the tireless efforts of our investigators to identify the suspect in the case don’t go unnoticed.”
Carpy was charged with murder and remains in the Fort Bend County Jail on a $350,000 bond.
Investigators are still working to identify a second suspect in the case.
What happened
It was just after midnight on Oct. 16, 2019, when authorities said Estorffe heard glass breaking and ran to confront the intruders.
"The guys were close to the bedroom and he fought them all the way back to the kitchen, so he saved his family, saved his kids and wife," Michael Estorffe, the victim's father, told a news station in Australia after it happened.
Twelve detectives were assigned to the case but they didn't have much to go on other than a video of a light-colored sedan seen in the area.
"We will stop at nothing," then-Sheriff Troy Nehls said. "We will investigate ... until we can bring these individuals to justice.”
The family had only lived in the Katy neighborhood for about six months.
The 911 call
Estorffe's wife was heard pleading for help in the gutwrenching 911 call.
“Help me, please, oh! Someone just broke in my house and shot my husband,” the woman said.
A dispatcher asked if Estorffe is breathing.
“I don’t know, I’m so scared to walk over there. They shot him,” his wife replied. “I’m so scared. I’m so worried. I don’t know what to do.”
“Oh, my God. I think he’s really hurt. Baby, are you OK? Babe, are you OK?” she's heard saying.
The dispatcher asked if the home invaders were still there.
"No, I don’t think so, but I’m so scared I can’t walk over to my husband."
"OK, where was he shot at?" the dispatcher asked.
"In the chest. Right in the chest. The left side of the chest. I don’t know what to do."
"Sweetie, I need you to help me, OK? Can you get to your husband?" the dispatcher said.
"I can but the door, the window is broken. I’m scared that they’re still there. I’m so scared."
"I’m freaking out really bad right now. And I’m trying to get some numbers to my neighbor."
Family members said Estorffe originally moved to the U.S. from Australia to play football in college.
