How Could You? Hall of Shame-Brittany Pittman case-Child Death UPDATED

This will be an archive of heinous actions by those involved in child welfare, foster care and adoption. We forewarn you that these are deeply disturbing stories that may involve sex abuse, murder, kidnapping and other horrendous actions.

From Charleston, West Virginia, a missed 2013 has come to light. Sixty-nine-year-old adoptive father Roy Roger Pittman killed his 15 year-old Adoptive Daughter Brittany and wounded his 18-year-old adopted son Matthew Pittman on May 24, 2013.

“Kanawha County Deputies say 69-year-old Roy Roger Pittman is charged in the death of his adopted daughter.

They say the two were arguing Friday night in the bedroom of their home when he shot his daughter in the chest. That’s when Pittman left the home and walked to a neighbor’s house and, according to deputies, shot his adopted son in the leg. The 18-year-old boy is being treated at a hospital.

The children’s mother called 911 for help. When law enforcement arrived on the scene, deputies say Pittman turned the gun on himself, shooting himself in the face.

He was taken into custody and then transported to the hospital.”

“Deputies say 69-year-old Roy Roger Pittman shot and killed his adopted daughter Brittany and wounded his adopted son Matthew before shooting himself in the face.

It happened Friday night on Keystone Drive.

Police say Roy and Brittany were arguing in her bedroom when he shot her in the chest.

He then went to a neighbor’s house and shot Matthew in the groin area.
When police arrived on scene, he turned the gun on himself.

Roy has seven adopted children, one of whom says she’s never known him to be violent.

The children’s mother called 911 for help.

“What could motivate a person to do that? It really brings it home when it’s so close to you. You know when it’s just four houses down. You think this could happen anywhere to anybody and it’s just really scary to think about,” says one neighbor.

Roy and Matthew are currently being treated at CAMC General.

Roy now faces one count of murder and one count of attempted murder. ”

Father Charged with Killing His Adopted Daughter[The News Center 5/25/13 by Associated Press]

“Authorities say Pittman shot himself in the face when confronted by deputies. He had been hospitalized until Thursday, when he was transported to the South Central Regional Jail.

Detectives have not release a motive or the statuses of other family members, including the son.

It was not clear Thursday whether Pittman had an attorney.”

Father Charged with Killing His Adopted Daughter[The News Center 6/20/13 by Associated Press]

“The Kanawha County Sheriff’s Department said the suspect, Roy Roger Pittman, 69, walked into his daughters room with a shotgun and shot her in the chest.

He then proceeded to walk to a neighbor’s house and shoot his 18-year-old son Matthew Pittman.

When police arrived on scene, Pittman then turned the shotgun on himself and shot himself in the head.

Both Roy Pittman and Matthew Pittman were taken CAMC General where they are undergoing surgery.

Deputies said the daughter was pronounced dead at the scene. Her name has not been released.

Pittman’s wife attempted to stop the shooting, deputies said. There were reportedly three other children in the home at the time, all of whom were adopted.

Detectives currently are trying to determine what started the fight that led to the shooting as well as the motive.

It is unclear whether alcohol or drugs were involved. The investigation is ongoing.”

Deputies: Father killed adopted daughter[WV Metro News 5/25/13 by Travis Banks]

“Jason Pittman said his father, Roy, loved the two kids that police say he shot on Friday.

“This just isn’t his character, he loved those kids just like he did the rest of us,” Jason Pittman, 39, of St. Albans said Sunday afternoon.

Police say Roy Roger Pittman, 69, killed his 15-year-old adopted stepdaughter Brittany with a shotgun blast to the chest and shot his 18-year-old adopted stepson Matthew in the upper leg Friday evening after a family dispute at their home in Charleston.

When police arrived at the scene and ordered Pittman to put his weapon down, he turned the 12-gauge shotgun on himself and “shot himself in the face,” Kanawha County Chief Deputy Mike Rutherford said.

Roy Pittman survived and is being treated at CAMC General Hospital. Matthew Pittman also survived and is at the hospital being treated for his wound.

“He’s being moved to a private room, he’ll be fine,” Jason Pittman said about his brother. “He’ll make a full recovery. He didn’t shatter any bones in his leg.”

Roy Pittman’s wife, Brittany and Matthew’s mother, made the 911 call after hearing the gunshots.

Jason Pittman said that his mother had tried to stop his father.

“She’s all torn up and doesn’t know what to think,” he said.

According to police, Brittany Pittman was shot inside the house after a disagreement. Roy Pittman then walked next door to where Matthew was and shot him, police said.

“He then went to the back porch of his residence and, when he was ordered to put down the weapon, he shot himself in the jaw,” Rutherford said on Friday.

On Sunday, Jason Pittman and other family members gathered at the house on Keystone Drive to write his sister’s obituary.

She had been taking HVAC classes at Carver Career and Technical Education Center and was one of the top students in her class, her brother said.

“She was one of the few females to do that, they told her. She was great at it,” he said. “I had bought an all new [HVAC] system and she was going to install it in my house.”

Matthew, hoping to follow in his father’s footsteps, also attends Carver, Jason Pittman said.

Roy Pittman had retired several years ago from running a plumbing company, Jason said.

“Dad was able to teach him all kinds of stuff,” he said. “[Matthew] was the only one who wanted to follow in dad’s footsteps. Me and my other brother had our own careers.”

Brittany and her father were close, too, according to Pittman.

“They would go to the church together and volunteer to cook every Sunday,” he said.

Jason Pittman said his parents had eight children — six adopted. The eldest is the couple’s only biological child and Roy Pittman had a daughter from a previous marriage, Pittman said.

Jason Pittman said no one has been allowed contact with his father since the shooting. He recalled a pretty bad fall his father had suffered on Thursday.

“I know he had fell the day before that, he’s having tests run today. He fell on his face and hit the front of his head. When he woke up about an hour later he had blood all around his face,” Jason Pittman said.

“We’re all just shocked and still trying to comprehend what happened. We’re trying to make sense of it, but, of course, there’s no sense in any of it.””

Father accused in fatal shooting, wounding loved his children, son says [WV Gazette 5/26/13 by Kate White]

“A Charleston man, accused of killing his adopted daughter with a shotgun before shooting his adopted son and turning the gun on himself, pleaded not guilty on Thursday to three charges, including first-degree murder.

Roy Roger Pittman, 69, of Charleston, also faces attempted murder and malicious wounding charges. He denied the charges during his arraignment in Kanawha Circuit Court.

Circuit Judge Paul Zakaib set a Jan. 21 trial date, according to assistant Kanawha County prosecutor Tera Salango.

Kanawha County sheriff’s deputies say Pittman shot his 15-year-old daughter, Brittany, in the chest at their home on Keystone Drive near Charleston on May 24 after a family argument. According to police, Pittman then walked across the street and told his adopted son, Matthew, 18, that he was going to shoot him as well.

Matthew Pittman was shot in the leg, according to a criminal complaint. Roy Pittman allegedly turned the gun on himself and shot himself in the face when confronted by deputies.

Roy Pittman is being held in South Central Regional Jail.”

Pittman pleads not guilty in daughter’s killing[ WV Gazette 9/26/13  by Kate White]

REFORM Puuzle Piece

 

Update: “A Charleston man who pleaded guilty to fatally shooting his 15-year-old adopted daughter and wounding her brother could serve up to 23 years in prison.

Roy Roger Pittman, 70, appeared Monday before Kanawha Circuit Judge Joanna Tabit in an emotional sentencing hearing. Pittman previously pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for fatally shooting Brittany Pittman and attempted second-degree murder for shooting and injuring Matthew Pittman, Brittany’s brother, who also is Pittman’s adopted son.

Pittman faced up to 40 years in prison on the first charge, but Tabit sentenced him to 20; on the second charge, she sentenced him to one to three years. The sentences will run consecutively. He will get credit for the close to two years he has already served and he could be eligible for parole in 11 years.

Roy Pittman’s attorney Ronni Sheets asked the judge to give her client home confinement or at the very least, impose the minimum sentence.

“We are here today because of a tragedy. It’s devastated his entire family,” she said. “No one understands what happened.”

Sheets said her client has been an upstanding member of society for 69 years and said even Matthew Pittman, who was 18 when his father shot him in the leg, said that if his father was in his right mind, this never would have happened.

She also noted that Roy Pittman took care of 12 children, 10 of whom he and his wife had adopted.

Sheets said her client has no memory of what happened that day or several days before that, which she said could be because he shot himself in the face immediately thereafter.

“He will likely never know,” she said.

Pittman briefly addressed the courtroom, saying, “Your honor, I am thoroughly sorry,” before he grew emotional and stopped. His attorney finished reading the prepared notes.

“The person who did this is not the real me,” Sheets read. “I don’t remember what happened that night or several nights before or after that.

“I lost the most precious part of me. I couldn’t in my right mind hurt or injure my children but I did. I’m sorry to my family, my son Matthew and especially, to Brittany.”

Matthew Pittman also addressed the court, saying, “that was not Roy.”

“Roy was a great person,” he said. “He wouldn’t have done that. I know that for a fact.”

Matthew Pittman said his father has always been someone who did whatever he could to help others.

“I know if my sister was here today, she would say the same thing,” he said.

Tabit asked Matthew Pittman how he was recovering. He responded that he is walking again and could have lost his legs but is thankful that he didn’t.

Assistant Kanawha County Prosecutor Don Morris said the court heard “very little about the victim in this case, even from her brother.”

Morris said that day, Brittany Pittman was happy because it was the last day of school. He said she had exchanged words with her father, who he said had been drinking.

Morris said Roy Pittman told her to go to her room. He said Roy Pittman then went to his room, loaded a gun, told her to open her bedroom door and shot her in the chest when she answered the door.

He said Roy Pittman then reloaded the gun, walked across the yard and yelled for Matthew Pittman to come out of a neighbor’s house. He said Matthew Pittman told police that his father told him he had shot his sister and that he was next.

Tabit prepared to sentence Pittman but then answered Matthew Pittman, who was sitting in the back of the courtroom raising his hand. Matthew addressed the courtroom once again, taking issue with the police report but acknowledged his condition following surgery may have led him to tell officers statements he didn’t remember now.

Tabit said it troubled her that Roy Pittman denied recollection of what happened that day. She said his case would have been more compelling if he had stopped after shooting Brittany Pittman.

“You hunted Matthew, said you shot his sister and said he was next,” Tabit said.

She said he had time to stop what he was doing. She also said at the time police approached him, he turned the gun on himself.

”You knew what you did and the repercussions and you turned the gun on yourself,” she said.

After Tabit imposed her sentence, Pittman’s family sobbed. As he left the courtroom, one of his family members said, “We love you, Roy.””

 

Father gets prison term in adopted daughter’s death[West Virginia Press 6/9/15 by Andrea Lannom]