The St. Johns 8 Year Old Killer

On Wednesday, November 5, 2008, the police were called to a home in St. Johns, Arizona. Once arriving there, they found the body of a man at the entrance of the home, identified as 29-year-old Vincent Romero. Then, another man was found shot to death in an upstairs room who was identified as 39-year-old Timothy Romans. Shortly after the discovery of the bodies, they arrested the 8-year-old son of Romero. They plan to charge him with two counts of the premeditated murder of both men by shooting them with a .22 rifle.

According to the police, an interview with the boy produced a confession to the crime. Even so, how valid is this confession, which supposedly may have been obtained without the child being represented by a parent or legal counsel and without his rights, being read to him. How can an 8 year old, any 8 year old, understand exactly what his or her rights are? How scared does an 8 year old have to be to confess to any crime when faced by adult men carrying guns?

Conflicting reports have come out since Wednesday whether the boy will be charged as an adult or as a child. If charged as an adult, he could face life in prison. If charged as a child, he can only be held in a juvenile facility until he is 18. There had not been problems with the boy in school and he did not even have a disciplinary record. Why would a young child suddenly commit murder - or was it murder? What if it was self-defense? What if he handled a bad situation in the very way he had been taught to do so? Perhaps what the boy really needs is counseling and the love of a family.

Vincent Romero was known by his neighbors as a nice guy who often helped out with neighborhood home repairs. He and Timothy Romans were well liked by everyone. Romero sang in the church choir and when he married Tiffany Romeo, it has been claimed the church was full of well-wishers, family, and friends. However, was every thing as rosy as it appeared? The police had been called to the home a number of times after calls were made about domestic abuse. Who called and what the police found have yet to be answered. What kind of marriage did Romero have with his first wife? What were the reasons for their divorce and for him to gain custody of his son? What kind of relationship did Tiffany Romeo have with the young boy when she became his stepmother?

It would not be the first time that "the nice guy next door" had a different face for the public eye and a 180-degree about face when in a private setting. People can often seem to be personable and engaging, always willing to help out a friend, and still be something else altogether when out of the public view. John Wayne Gacy, Gary Ridgeway, and Ted Bundy were all known as "good guys" until they were caught doing heinous crimes.

In this case, even more questions need to be asked. Although no evidence exists so far, but was abuse or torture in some way a catalyst for what happened? Did the actions of the parents behind closed doors betray what every person that knew them believed? The police are investigating to see is abuse may have caused this young child to commit murder. What would cause a young boy to kill two men especially when one of them was his father?

Rev. John Paul Sauter of St. Johns Catholic Church said that Romero had consulted him about teaching the boy how to shoot a gun, even though the mother suggested a BB gun was more appropriate. The priest stated that he thought the boy was too young and went on to say, "That child, I don't think he knows what he did, and it was brutal." The answer may be as simple as that - he had no understanding about what he did.

Unfortunately, questions that are more important will need to be answered by the legal system. How does an 8 year old develop the capacity to commit murder? Can an eight year old fully understand the nature of the crime and the consequences of committing it? Can an eight-year-old plan (or premeditate) to commit murder and then execute that murder?

From my point of view, either this young child was driven to commit murder based on the actions of the adults in his world or he is a budding sociopath. Whether there will be an understandable explanation for the public remains to be seen. Even so, at this time there are far too many questions for me to say this boy needs to be put away for the next 10 years, or worse, the rest of his life.

Sources:

St. Johns boy, 8, suspected of double murder

Priest: Slain Arizona father had sought advice about letting boy, 8, handle firearms