A 10-year-old Texas boy confessed last week to killing a stranger over two years ago, but under state law, the suspected murderer cannot be charged.
The boy disclosed critical details in the 2022 slaying of Brandon O’Quinn Rasberry, a case that has kept investigators perplexed for more than two years.
Rasberry, 32, was discovered in his RV on Jan. 18, 2022, with a single gunshot wound to the head and two minor graze wounds on each of his hands, according to the Gonzales County Sheriff’s Office.
Investigators suspect he had been dead for two days before his employer reported his disappearance. He’d only been living in the RV park for four days.
Police dug through Raspberry’s cell phone data and interviewed many neighbours, but no leads were found until last week, when a local principal contacted to report the 10-year-old’s horrifying confession and threats to harm another kid.
“Using this information, the deputy contacted the Gonzales County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigation Division. Investigators decided that based on the information the youngster provided to the school, the child may have knowledge of Brandon’s murder,” the agency stated.
The youngster, whose identity has not been revealed, “described in detail” in police interviews every detail of the cold-blooded murder he allegedly committed when he was only seven years old.
The child had been visiting his grandfather, who lived in the same RV park, when he observed Rasberry strolling around the property, according to authorities.
On the night of the murder, the youngster claimed to have taken a 9-millimeter pistol from the glovebox of his grandfather’s truck and slipped into Rasberry’s RV, describing it as “dirt and army green.”
“The Child stated he observed Brandon sleeping in his bed and approached Brandon and discharged the firearm into Brandon striking him one time in the head,” the police report said.
“The youngster indicated that as he was exiting the RV, he shot the handgun again into the couch inside the RV. “The child then exited the RV and returned the firearm to the truck’s glovebox.”
According to police, the child had no clear motivation for the heinous conduct.
He admitted that he had never met his victim and did not even know his name.
“The child was also asked if he was mad at Brandon for some reason or if Brandon had ever done anything to him to make him mad, the child stated no,” the report added.
That same day, authorities located the alleged firearm at a pawn shop that the child’s grandfather had previously sold it to. It was later matched to spent shot casings found at the crime scene.
Most surprisingly, the youngster cannot be charged with Rasberry’s death. According to Texas law, a child cannot be held criminally accountable until the age of ten.
Rasberry’s family is not only furious that their loved one’s murderer will not face justice, but also startled by how young the child was.
“Finding out it was a 7-year-old who committed the murder, and a needless murder at that, is simply awful. “It’s difficult to understand,” Rasberry’s brother, Jonathan Fojtik, told KENS5.
“I feel like the boy knew exactly what he was doing,” Fojtik remarked.
“Why wasn’t the child being supervised more?”
Following his confession, the youngster was placed under 72-hour emergency custody before being transported to a psychiatric facility in San Antonio, Texas, for evaluation and treatment.
He has now been arrested on terroristic threats charges stemming from the incident involving his classmate and is being placed in county jail.