According to CNN a teen boy that spent his afternoon consuming alcohol with his father, and then overheard a telephone argument his father had with his mother, grew angry, beat his father to death with a cane and buried his body in a storage box covered in kitty litter. R.S., 16, has been charged with second-degree murder. According to a probable cause statement, the teen's father was located in the family's backyard; the alleged murder weapon was also found inside the storage box.
On the night of June 6, R.S.'s father argued with the boy's mother over the phone while she was away from the home attending a graduation celebration. R.S. was upset by their heated exchange and, according to the Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney's Office, "…the defendant picked up a cane and hit the victim in the head with it several times, killing him."
R.S. then dragged his father into the yard. The probable cause statement explains that R.S. put his father and the cane into a wooden storage box that was in the yard, and then covered it with kitty litter. After he was satisfied that he had successfully hidden the body, R.S. telephoned his mother and told her his father had left on his bicycle sometime after midnight. Then R.S. went to the graduation party to pick his mother up and drive her home.
Later the next day, R.S.'s mother telephoned the authorities to report that her husband was missing. A few days later, as R.S. grew more nervous, his mother telephoned the police again. She said that she had mentioned to her son that she wanted to have a search and rescue team aid in looking for her husband. However, according to a news release sent out by the prosecution, R.S. told his mother to "Wait! Wait, don't call yet."
At some point after this R.S. confessed to his mother that his father did not take off on his bicycle – and that he had killed him. His mother told him he needed to call 911 to confess himself. A recording of the call is as follows, "I'm calling to confess to a killing. He's outside in a container of sorts. I had a cane in my hand at the time. I needed, I promise it wasn't premeditated or anything, but I had been drinking and I started swinging."
Police came to the home and R.S. was arrested without incident.
According to a medical examiner, the body had to be identified by dental records – it was that badly beaten. However, according to court records, R.S. claimed to have only struck his father once in the head before he fell to the ground and died.
In a news release prosecutor Mark Lindquist commented, "This is a strange case of patricide. The motives are still being investigated."
R.S. has entered a plea of not guilty and is being held on a $1 million bond in the Pierce County Jail.
