The victim’s family said evidence showed planning, but prosecutors said experts found legal insanity.
FAIRFAX, VA — A Virginia judge accepted a not guilty by reason of insanity plea for a man accused of fatally shooting nonprofit CEO Gret Glyer while he slept beside his wife, a ruling that means there will be no trial in the 2022 killing, according to reports and statements from the family.
The decision ends the criminal case in the usual sense, but it does not close the matter. Instead of prison, the defendant is expected to be held in a state mental health facility under Virginia’s process for people found legally insane at the time of an offense. The ruling has sharpened tensions between prosecutors and the victim’s relatives, who say the attack was planned and should have been tried before a jury.
In court this week, a Fairfax County judge accepted the insanity plea for Joshua Danehower, 36, who was charged in the killing of Glyer, the chief executive of the nonprofit DonorSee. Prosecutors said Danehower shot Glyer nearly a dozen times while Glyer and his wife were asleep in bed, with the couple’s two young children in other rooms. The case centered on whether Danehower was legally responsible for the shooting. Gizan Glyer, the victim’s sister, said the family objected to the plea and asked the court not to accept it. “The commonwealth’s attorney made it clear to the judge that my family objects,” she said, adding that the plea went forward anyway.
Family members and investigators pointed to writings and other records they say show the attack was deliberate. Investigators recovered a written plan after Danehower was arrested in 2022, and the family cited it in court as proof he understood what he was doing despite mental health problems described in evaluations. The plan listed gear and steps, including items such as a loaded Glock, a mask and ski goggles, and included notes about clearing a phone and computer and loading the chamber during the drive. It also described shooting steps and a getaway route that referenced hopping a fence, placing clothes in a trash bag, and getting onto Interstate 66 quickly. Gizan Glyer described the document as a step-by-step procedure and said it showed “a premeditated nature” to the crime.
Prosecutors said the legal standard turned on expert findings about Danehower’s mental state at the time of the shooting. Mental health experts for both the defense and the prosecutor’s office evaluated Danehower, and both concluded he met Virginia’s definition for legal insanity, according to accounts of the reports. One evaluator wrote that Danehower was experiencing symptoms of a mental disease or defect that left him unable to understand the nature of his actions or to tell right from wrong. Prosecutors said that conclusion meant the state could not meet its burden of proof at trial. The family disputed that outcome and argued the planning evidence, along with other steps described in the record, should have weighed more heavily in court.
The case grew out of a killing that police say unfolded before dawn in a Fairfax City neighborhood. Officers were called to the 9800 block of Bolton Village Court just before 3 a.m. on June 27, 2022, after Glyer’s wife called 911 and reported hearing a loud noise and believing her husband had been shot, according to a broadcast account of police dispatch audio. A neighbor also reported hearing gunshots. Investigators accused Danehower of entering the home in the middle of the night and opening fire on Glyer in bed. Reports of the evaluation later described Danehower’s statements about the shooting, including that he fired about 10 times and wanted to be sure Glyer was dead.
Evaluations presented in the case described years of mental health struggles and a fixation tied to Glyer’s family. The reports said Danehower began experiencing mental health issues around 2012, sometimes making delusional statements or experiencing hallucinations. A psychologist’s report said Danehower had briefly dated Glyer’s wife in the past and later came to believe Glyer was part of the “illuminati” and had forced her into marriage. In one account of his remarks to a psychologist, Danehower said that by 2018 he believed he needed to eventually kill Glyer because of that belief. The record also included details that Danehower went to a gun range nearly a dozen times before the shooting, a fact the family cited as another sign of preparation.
Under the court process described in reports, Danehower will remain under court oversight and medical review instead of going to prison. He is expected to return to court in May, when the judge is set to receive an updated report from doctors and decide where he should be placed, likely in a mental health facility. After that, he would return to court on a regular schedule to review his status and determine whether he can receive additional freedom. The family said the result leaves them without the trial they wanted and without a conventional sentence for the person accused of killing Glyer.
The ruling has also opened a new debate about what justice looks like in cases involving severe mental illness. Prosecutors and courts treat legal insanity as a specific standard, not a general description of mental health, and it can lead to confinement in a hospital setting rather than incarceration. Glyer’s relatives, however, said the planning record and other details show a calculated act that should have been tested in open court. The family’s public statements emphasized that they believe the evidence showed awareness and intent, and they said they felt sidelined as the plea was negotiated and presented.
For now, the case stands at a turning point: the criminal trial is off the calendar, but the court’s supervision is not over. The next major milestone is the May court hearing, when doctors’ updates will be reviewed and a placement decision will be made, followed by ongoing annual reviews that will determine whether Danehower remains confined or is granted more latitude over time.
Author note: Last updated Feb. 21, 2026.