Posted on 12/17/2005 8:31:41 PM PST by NapkinUser
SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- A 15-year-old boy allegedly killed his father then set their home on fire because he was afraid his father would find out he was failing some classes, prosecutors said.
Ryan Watts was charged Friday with murdering his father, 50-year-old John E. Bruner, who was initially believed to have died in the fire earlier this week. He was charged as an adult.
Watts was arrested Wednesday after an autopsy determined that Bruner died from multiple gunshot wounds and not from the fire, Santa Clara police said.
According to court documents, Watts told police he took a .45-caliber handgun from a safe in his father's bedroom and stashed it in his room shortly before the killing.
Court documents allege he shot his father in the head at close range Monday, then set the body on fire because it was too heavy to carry to the backyard, where he had planned to bury it. Watts hid the gun and went to Taco Bell before calling 911 to report the fire, the documents said.
Watts' parents apparently were separated, and he had been staying at his mother's home since the fire, police said.
If convicted, Watts faces life in prison. He is not eligible for the death penalty because he's a juvenile.
Watts is expected to enter a plea during a Dec. 22 court appearance.
well he doesn't have to worry about his grades any more.
Yeppers...I would say he flunked being a loving son.
Is this proof that criminals are stupid?
What the hell??? He couldn't find a pen with matching ink?
There is more to this than meets the eye. There HAS to be more. Commit suicide because of bad grades? Good Lord. I feel sad for the young boy and sadder for the father if this is true. Something was deeply wrong here.
Or perhaps the father flunked being a loving father? I would like to know the whole story behind this horror.
Y'know, I think bad grades were the least of this kid
s problems. Well, at least they are now.
Kind of like the guy who killed his girlfriends parents cause they wouldn't let him see her anymore. Guess what Einstein, now you still can't see her and it isn't her parents that are preventing it.
Very true...I was just being too flip.
There was a teenager, here in the Fort Worth area, that killed his father with a gun, close range....and he went to prison for a while...but, while he was in prison...the true story about how brutally he and his mother were treated by the father...
When he was released there was generally a feeling that he had paid a very high price...but, he never got bitter..he said he couldn't watch his mother be mistreated so badly anymore.
We shall see...hopefully.
I distincly remember altering my report card with a typewriter!
The culture of getting tippity top grades in school is insane.
Talk about overkill...
I went to junior high with a girl who cried and pleaded with the instructor in front of the entire class because she couldn't possibly bring home a "B" grade.
I always wondered what was going on in that situation.
As long as the font matched up, no problem. Dan Rather learned the hard way.
My sis and brother in law pulled every trick in the book to get my 3-year old nephew into the best pre-preschool. They even interviewed the parents.
Insanity. I went to fine college and grad school. This obsession with getting into an Ivy is absurd, especially when you realize in time that most ivy grads work in cubicles and hate their lives. :-)
I work in the same office with many Ivy league grads. I have a BS in Computer Science from a local college. Some of them make more than me, some less than me. I do know that I enjoyed my path here a lot more than they did, however.
Meanwhile, hey, no big, the perp must have heard it takes a couple of decades to get the Death Penalty as an adult.
Will the system please teach him to sing 'kum-ba-ya' in the meantime?
I worked in two major law firms for 8+ years in nyc - most were among the best and brightest, educated at the best schools.
Miserable people, on balance. Very unhappy.
Me, I quit. ;-)
I blame the teacher.
Liberal logic can be vicious
And you probably had a lot less loan debt (if any?!) than your cubicle neighbors who went to the pricey schools.
Them Burrito Supremes are sure tasty
I am self employed ...I would fire myself if I could
You got that right! My grand total for student loans was $3000.
Well bless the son who went to jail for the sins of his father. Someone has to take a stand when a mother is being abused like that. He took the ultimate stand and paid a price but he believed what he did was right to protect his mother and until we walk in those same shoes we cannot judge. I wonder if this is the case here too. Sad huh? I see my loving family and children and grandchildren and I cannot imagine family members hurting each other. It boggles my mind.
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