13-Year-Old Kinship Adoptee Kills Adoptive Father and Son UPDATED

This one is from July 2014.

“A father and adoptive son have been shot and killed at home in rural Northeast Texas, and a 13-year-old also adopted by the father is being held in the case.

Cass County Sheriff Larry Rowe said deputies on Friday found the bodies of a 32-year-old man and his adopted 12-year-old son in their kitchen. They were responding to a 911 call from his son’s 13-year-old brother, who the man also adopted.

The 13-year-old is being held at a juvenile center in neighboring Gregg County. He has not been charged. Rowe says there are no other suspects in the case, and that a murder-suicide has not been ruled out.

Authorities did not identify either boy.”

Northeast Texas father, son killed; 2nd son held[Lubbock Online 7/1/14 by Associated Press]

“The bodies were found Friday night on County Road 2747 between Hughes Springs and Marietta.

Sheriff officials say the victims, Damon Robison, 32, and his 12-year old adopted son were found dead of gunshot wounds near the kitchen.

Robison’s other 13-year old adopted son called 911, asking for officers.

He’s currently being held for questioning, but officials say they still don’t know how it happened.

The 13-year old and 12-year old are biological brothers. Their mother was at work during the time of the shooting.

Neighbors say they were saddened by the news.

“They liked to play like normal kids. They knew alot about guns. Their dad raised them up hunting,” said Sarah Reynolds, neighbor and 7th grade classmate.

The bodies were sent to Dallas for an autopsy.

Visitation for Damon Robison and the 12-year old boy will be Wednesday from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Harrison Funeral Home in Naples, Texas.

Cass County Sheriff’s Office and the Texas Rangers are investigating.”

Victim identified in East Texas shooting[KTBS 8/25/14 by Julie Parr]
“A 32-year-old man, now identified as Damon Robison, and his 12-year-old adopted son, were found dead at 10:42 p.m. Friday in their Cass County home from gunshot wounds. The bodies were found after law enforcement officials received a 911 call from the dead boy’s 13-year-old biological brother telling officers to come to his home.

Cass County Sheriff’s deputies found Robison and his 12-year-old son, whose name is not being released, dead in the kitchen/dining room area of their house at …, said Sheriff Larry Rowe.

“The boys’ mother was working when the shooting took place,” Sheriff Rowe said.

The 13-year-old boy, who called 911, is being held for questioning at a Longview detention center. “The judge appointed two lawyers for the boy, Edwin Buckner and James Verschoyle,” Sheriff Rowe said.

Both boys had the same biological mother – the daughter of Mrs. Robison. Both boys, however, had been adopted and were being raised by their grandparents.

“We still don’t know the circumstances that led to the shootings or who pulled the trigger. And, we have no suspect to name at this time,” Sheriff Rowe said. “We found one semiautomatic pistol at the scene. The 13-year-old boy was not injured.”

Precinct 2 Justice of the Peace Gina Basham pronounced both Robison and his son dead at the scene. She ordered the bodies to be sent for autopsy at Southwestern Institute of Forensic Sciences in Dallas.

Texas Rangers are heading this investigation.”
Texas Rangers head up murder investigation[TXK today 7/1/14 by JANE BECKERDITE]

“A 13-year-old Northeast Texas boy has been arrested on two warrants for capital murder in the deaths of his father and brother.

Cass County Sheriff Larry Rowe tells The Texarkana Gazette the suspect was arrested Wednesday at his home in Hughes Springs.

He is being held at an area juvenile detention center.

Authorities haven’t released his name.

The bodies of 32-year-old Damon Robison and his adopted 12-year-old son were found with gunshot wounds at their home in July.

Police responded to a 911 call from the 13-year-old.

Rowe says the warrants were issued following the discovery of new evidence.

He says he won’t release the slain boy’s name because of his age.”

13-year-old arrested for murder of father and brother[WSET 10/3/14 by Associated Press]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

 

Update:”A 13-year-old Northeast Texas boy has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for killing his 12-year-old biological brother and their adoptive father.

The boy, from Cass County, whose name has not been released because of his age, shot both family members.

He pleaded guilty at a January 9 hearing to two counts of capital murder according to Cass County District Attorney Randal Lee.

The case dates back to last summer, and is described by Lee as: ‘pretty cold-blooded’, and ‘right up there with some of the adult murders I’ve seen’, The Longview News-Journal reported.

The teen will remain in juvenile custody until he’s 19, when he’ll be transferred to an adult prison.

Cass County Sheriff Larry Rowe said he was satisfied with the guilty plea.

However, he added that local law enforcement struggle to understand laws that could allow the boy out of prison much earlier than an adult who committed the same crime.

A plea bargain lowered the sentencing to 25 years from a maximum of 40 years.

Members of the teen’s family are reportedly on board with the deal and gave victim impact statements at the January 9 hearing.

Many in the small town are questioning what an appropriate punishment is for such a horrific crime.

‘We don’t understand in law enforcement why someone 13 years old can do that and possibly be out of jail by the time they’re 30,’ Rowe told the Longview News-Journal.

The plea bargain was worked out before District Attorney Lee took office on January 1, 2015.

Police were first called to the victims’ home near Hughes Springs at 10:42 p.m. on June 27, 2014, after a 911 call by the 13-year-old.

They found two bodies – 32-year-old Damon Robison, and his adopted 12-year-old son – who were found with gunshot wounds near the kitchen of the property.

Police found a semiautomatic pistol at the scene.

There were no signs of a break-in and nothing appeared to be missing. The 13-year-old boy was reported to be uninjured.

The adoptive mother of the two boys, Donna Robison, their biological grandmother, was away at work at the time of the shooting.

Her husband was a mechanic at Pittsburg Tractor. The boys’ birth mother is named as Sarah Curto of Naples, Texas.

At the time officials were unclear as to what the circumstances were that had led to the shooting.

The surviving boy was detained for questioning, but released.

He was rearrested on October 1 after police located witnesses who told them that he had admitted to the killings.

Immediately after the two murders the teen reportedly tried to manipulate the crime scene by cutting his own arm with a knife and then placing the knife in his adoptive father’s hand, said Lee.

The teen then told police that Robison attacked him and his brother, and that he shot Robison while defending himself.

Prosecutors say the teen had planned to only kill his father, but his brother walked in, and he killed him too.

Given the boy’s age, Lee found the two murders as disturbing in their calculation and premeditation as anything he had seen in his legal career.

‘It’s just horrendous,’ he said. ”

Texas boy, 13, sentenced to 25 years in prison for shooting dead his adoptive father AND his brother, 12[Daily Mail 1/22/15 by Associated press]