New York Man Murders Stranger at Hudson Valley Supermarket
A normal weekend trip to the grocery store turned into anything but normal when police say a man murdered a stranger at a Hudson Valley grocery store.
On Monday, Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler announced 41-year-old Andrew Goodenough of New Windsor was sentenced to 20 years to life in state prison. Goodenough pleaded guilty on February 2, in Orange County Court to second-degree murder in connection with the stabbing death of a man in a supermarket in 2016.
At the time that he pleaded guilty, Goodenough admitted that on Saturday, June 11, 2016, he stabbed and killed a man who was shopping at a supermarket in the Town of New Windsor.
The fatal stabbing happened at ShopRite located on Windsor Highway in New Windsor.
Authorities found an unconscious man inside the store. The victim, Michael Kohus, 35, from Highland Falls, was transported to St. Luke’s Hospital Newburgh by New Windsor Emergency Medical Service where he was later pronounced dead.
Goodenough silently walked behind the victim in the produce aisle, sliced his neck with a box cutter, and walked away, officials say.
Less than an hour after the stabbing, Goodenough was located inside the store by officers and taken into custody.
Police and prosecutors were unable to discover any prior interaction between Goodenough and the victim, officials say.
In a written plea agreement, Goodenough maintained that the victim had threatened him in the past, but acknowledged that the victim was not threatening him, or posing any imminent threat to him at the time of the stabbing, according to the Orange County District Attorney's office.
In the same agreement, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office reiterated its belief that the two had no prior interaction.
“The victim in this case lost his life in a random encounter with a defendant who killed him for absolutely no discernable reason,” Hoovler said. “My deepest condolences go out to family and friends of the victim, who must live with the fact that their loved one was killed when doing nothing more provocative than simply grocery shopping on a Saturday. Andrew Goodenough’s actions on that day were reprehensible and he knew at the time that what he was doing was wrong. The community is far safer while he is in prison.”