A woman charged with attempted murder 40 years ago is now being charged with one count of murder in the first degree.
Patricia Ruth Holt, 57, is accused of killing Carl Joseph Donaldson, 47, in July. He was shot in the head.
Both Holt and Donaldson worked at Hutchins Trucking Yard in Northern Texas. Donaldson was her boss at the time.
When Holt was 18 years old, she was a senior in high school, living in Red Hook, New York. She arrived to school with a loaded 12-gauge gun and threatened to kill her teacher, who removed her from an English class because of behavioral problems.
When she realized the teacher wasn’t in the classroom, she made her way to the teacher’s lounge, where she was disarmed by 2 teachers and then arrested.
Holt pleaded guilty to attempted assault and received 5 years probation due to her young age.
Following that incident, Holt moved to Florida and then North Carolina. At the time of her recent arrest, she was living in Texas.
According to the victim’s widow, Holt didn’t like being told what to do and would fly into a rage.
When things escalated, Donaldson tried to calm the situation, but Holt reportedly turned on him and allegedly shot him.
The widow said: “At that time, I had my back turned and I heard a pop. I turned around and looked and I see my husband flying through the air and falling on the ground.”
Holt allegedly barricaded herself in the cab of a tractor-trailer for 4 hours before being detained, according the police report.
