As young adults often do to reduce expenses, they have roommates. This senseless crime involves three roommates and one ex-roommate. The’d evicted the ex-roommate for not paying his share of the rent.
When one young man (age 24) returned to his place after spending a holiday with his family, he learned someone had robbed them during his absence. His PlayStation, watch, and other items were gone. According to a 22-year-old roommate, the 24-year-old was so angry about the theft of his PlayStation he punched a hole in the wall.
The 24-year-old believed an ex-roommate had stolen the missing items. He and the 22-year-old devised a plan of revenge and lured the former roommate to their home to kill him.
They invited the ex-roommate to go with them to a party. When he arrived at their home, the 24-year-old attacked him with a chef's knife—stabbing him 17 times. The younger roommate didn’t take part in the murder—but he watched and did nothing to stop it. The two men were attempting to put the dead man in a plastic bag when a third roommate returned home, saw the scene, and called 9-1-1.
When the police arrived, the assailant had fled, and the remaining roommate had locked himself in a bathroom. The authorities found the murderer about one mile away from his home—covered in blood.
At a press conference, the local sheriff said,
“All over a gaming system – that makes absolutely no sense to any law-abiding citizen.”
In exchange for a lesser charge, the 22-year-old roommate who was present but didn’t assist in the murder testified against the 24-year-old murderer—pleading guilty to Accessory After the Fact and Tampering with Physical Evidence. A judge accepted his plea and sentenced him to 10 years in prison, followed by 10 years of supervised release.
A jury found the 24-year-old roommate guilty of murder. A judge sentenced the young man, 26 at the time of his sentencing, to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
My heart breaks for the families of all the young men involved in this crime.
Source: State Attorney’s Office, Oxygen True Crime, Law & Crime