Patricide & Matricide

April 2008

Supreme Court Rejects Boy Killer's Appeal

newser | CNN | Apr 14, 08 7:55 PM CDT

The Supreme Court refused today to let a teenage boy appeal his 30-year sentence for double-murder, CNN reports. Christopher Pittman, who was tried as an adult in South Carolina 3 years ago, is serving the longest sentence ever for someone his age—and blames antidepressants for inspiring him to kill his grandparents and set their house ablaze at the age of 12. More »

March 2008

Texas Teen Planned Family's Murder for a Month: Cops

newser | Tyler (Texas) Morning Telegraph | Mar 4, 08 11:25 AM CST

The 16-year-old Texas girl charged with killing her mother and brothers didn't decide to murder her family on a whim. Erin Caffey and her boyfriend discussed the homicide “for about a month,” according to police reports. Caffey waited outside in a car while the boyfriend and an accomplice allegedly shot Caffey’s parents and shot and stabbed her brothers with a “sword,” reports the Tyler Morning Telegraph. More »
Texas Girl Charged With Killing Family

newser | Associated Press | Mar 2, 08 7:39 PM CST

A 16-year-old Texas girl and three friends allegedly killed her mother and two brothers and set the family home on fire because her parents objected to her boyfriend, the AP reports. The suspects face capital murder charges in yesterday's attack, which the girl's father survived. Shot five times, he crawled 300 yards to a neighbor's house for help. More »

February 2008

Jury Hears 2 Tales of Millionaire's Murder

Austin American-Statesman | Feb 20, 08

Two very different stories about what happened when multimillionaire Charlie White Sr. was killed by one of his sons emerged Tuesday during the sentencing phase of his murder case.Defense attorneys said the killing came after White became angry when Darin White decide he wanted to stay with his mother in New Mexico. Prosecutors said it was Darin who became angry and attacked his father.Darin pleaded guilty in September to killing his father on Nov. 11, 2005, at his father's home in Horseshoe Bay. He had initially asked a judge to decide his sentence but changed his mind in November and requested...
Browning Indicted in Killings

Baltimore Sun | Feb 12, 08

While medical staff at the Baltimore County jail continue to watch over the Cockeysville teenager charged with killing his family this month, Nicholas W. Browning was indicted yesterday on murder and handgun charges.A Baltimore County grand jury indicted the 16-year-old on four counts of first-degree murder and four counts of using a handgun in a violent crime.Browning is being held without bail at the Baltimore County Detention Center, where he is on "special watch," said Jim O'Neill, the director of the county's corrections department and warden of the jail.
Scout Held in Family Massacre

newser | Baltimore Sun | Feb 4, 08 3:07 AM CST

A 15-year-old Baltimore area Boy Scout has been charged with murdering all four members of his family. High school sophmore Nicholas Browning shot his father, a prominent corporate lawyer, his mother, and brothers, ages 11 and 13, reports the Baltimore Sun . Police say he used his father's handgun during the rampage, triggered by an argument with his dad. The teen is being held without bail. More »

January 2008

Suspects in Carnation Murders Plead Not Guilty

newser | Seattle Times | Jan 10, 08 4:11 PM CST

Michele Anderson and Joseph McEnroe pleaded not guilty today to charges of murdering six members of Anderson’s family Dec. 24 in Carnation, Wash., the Seattle Times reports. Friends and Anderson family members wore pictures of the two child victims—3 and 5 years old—and were seen frequently wiping away tears during the hearing in a Seattle courtroom. More »

December 2007

Death Penalty Considered in Carnation Slayings

newser | Seattle Post-Intelligencer | Dec 29, 07 11:10 AM CST

Murder charges filed yesterday in the Christmas Eve slaying of six family members in a house in Carnation, Wash., added chilling details to the account of the deaths, and made the perpetrators liable for the death penalty, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports. Michelle Anderson and Joseph McEnroe have been charged with aggravated first-degree murder in the killing of Anderson's parents, brother, and his wife and two children. More »
Daughter & Lover Confess to Killing 6 in Family: Cops

newser | Associated Press | Dec 28, 07 3:53 AM CST

The daughter of a murdered couple and her boyfriend have confessed to killing the young woman's parents and four other relatives, according to police. Michele Anderson, 29, and her live-in lover gunned down Anderson's parents Christmas Eve at their home outside Seattle, police said. When Anderson's brother, his wife and two young children arrived, they were also shot dead to eliminate witnesses. More »
Daughter, Beau Arrested in Christmas Eve Family Killings

newser | Seattle Post-Intelligencer | Dec 27, 07 4:22 PM CST

Police have arrested a 29-year-old woman and her boyfriend in the gruesome Christmas Eve shootings of six members of her family in rural Washington, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports. The couple is being held on suspicion of murdering the woman's parents, her brother, his wife, and their 6- and 3-year old children. The six were found yesterday. More »

December 2005

Man Indicted For Murder Of His Wealthy Father

kxan.com | Dec 9, 05

A grand jury indicted a son in the death of his dad, a wealthy Horseshoe Bay retiree.The indictment says the suspect hit the victim in the head and strangled him with an electrical cord.Darin White, 38, will go to trial to face the murder charge. Authorities say he and his father, 78-year-old Charlie White violently fought the weekend of November 11.Authorities checked on the elder White at his house on Lighthouse Dr. There, they found him dead on the floor inside. Investigators say they tracked his son to New Mexico where his mother lives.

March 1996

THE MENENDEZ BROTHERS FOUND GUILTY OF MURDER

Seattle Post-Intelligencer | Mar 21, 96

Erik and Lyle Menendez were convicted yesterday of murdering their wealthy parents by shotgun blasts as the couple watched television in their Beverly Hills mansion in 1989.The jury of eight men and four women also found in the Menendez brothers' retrial that they had committed multiple murder and had lain in wait for their victims.These ``special circumstances'' in the murders of Jose Menendez, 45, and his wife, Kitty, 47, mean the brothers may be subject to the death penalty under California law. The brothers have been in jail for six years.Judge Stanley Weisberg of Los Angeles County Superior...