Eldest Son’s Statement Admissible in Murder-Suicide Case

The 15-year-old eldest son’s statement that he committed suicide after his 13-year-old second son committed the murder-suicide incident that occurred at a family home near Fall City last month is admissible, his attorneys said.

The eldest son, whose identity has not been released, was arrested last week on five counts of first-degree aggravated murder and one count of attempted first-degree murder, including shooting and killing his parents and three younger siblings and fatally wounding his 11-year-old sister at their home on Oct. 21.

Amy Parker, the eldest son’s lawyer, pointed out in a 106-page argument submitted to the court last week that the prosecution failed to clearly reveal the eldest son’s motive for the crime, and said that there were no traces of a crime on the eldest son’s body at the time of his arrest. He argued that it should have been covered in blood.

Attorney Parker asked the court to allow the lawyers to examine the crime scene again from the beginning, saying the defense team was only able to tour the scene for an hour a few days after the incident.

The prosecution claimed that the eldest son called 911 after committing the crime, blaming his younger brother Benjamin, who was two years younger, and tampered with the scene by placing a Glock semi-automatic pistol in his younger brother’s left hand before the police arrived.

The 11-year-old sister told the police that she climbed out the window and took refuge in a neighbor’s house after seeing her older brother, who had shot her, bend down and check the dead members of his family. She added that her brother had caused a lot of problems in the family after failing several recent exams.

The King County Medical Examiner’s Office denied the possibility that his second son, Benjamin, committed suicide, saying two gunshot wounds to his head showed that he had been shot at least 2 feet away.

Meanwhile, the maternal grandmother, who is the legal guardian of the 11-year-old surviving girl, asked the court to ban the lawyers from entering the house while the scene was cleaned and the deceased’s belongings were sorted out.

The court allowed the defense team to visit and investigate the site for 10 hours a day on the 5th and decided to hold the eldest son’s interrogation on June 4th next year.