KINGSTON, N.Y. — A former Red Hook woman who once tried to gun down her high school teacher has been indicted for murder by a Dallas County, Texas grand jury.
The grand jury handed down the first-degree murder charge against Patricia Ruth Holt on Thursday, Nov. 23.
Holt, 57, of Jacksonville, North Carolina, is accused of the July 24 shooting death of Carl Donaldson.
According to an arrest warrant provided by the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office, Holt was working as an over-the-road truck driver for Hutchins Trucking Yard when she went on a rampage in the trucking yard and shot Donaldson, the business’s 47-year-old manager, in the head.
Donaldson’s widow, Tonya, said following a dispute with a customer in Waco, Texas, an enraged Holt returned to the company trucking yard in Hutchins, Texas, where Holt began driving the rig aggressively in circles before heading back toward the office, where she set her sights on Donaldson.
When Donaldson climbed on the truck’s running board and tried to open the driver’s door, Holt shot him in the head, Tonya Donaldson said. When he fell to the ground, Holt struck him with the truck.
Police said that after shooting Donaldson, Holt threatened to shoot others at the scene who were filming the incident. According to a probable cause affidavit filed by Dallas County deputies, Holt left the trucking yard and led authorities on a slow-speed pursuit before police deployed spike strips to stop the tractor-trailer. She then barricaded herself inside the truck’s cab for nearly four hours.
Although she ultimately surrendered peacefully, according to police documents, while inside the truck cab, Holt allegedly told police she planned to turn the gun on herself or “attempt suicide by cop,” by forcing police to shoot her. Police said that at the time of her arrest, Holt had a handgun that had one round in the chamber and a loaded magazine.
She also allegedly told police that she had been planning to shoot Donaldson “for months,” that “they have been f—ing with her for too long,” and that she had been waiting for two years to get paid.
Tonya Donaldson said Holt had only worked for the trucking yard for a month before the shooting.
On Sept. 26, 1986, when Holt was an 18-year-old senior at Red Hook High School, she left the school following a dispute with her English teacher, only to return a short time later armed with a shotgun and a plan to kill the teacher.
When she didn’t find the teacher in her classroom, Holt made her way to the faculty lounge, where she was tackled by two teachers who wrested the gun from her and held her until police arrived.
She pleaded guilty to attempted assault, was sentenced to five years probation and granted youthful offender status, which means her criminal record from the incident was sealed. As part of her probation, she was also ordered to undergo inpatient psychiatric treatment.
Holt is currently being held in the Dallas County Jail on $1 million bail.
According to the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office, if convicted, Holt faces a sentence of 5-99 years or life in prison.
