Wis. teen charged with homicide in father's death

October 8, 2008

 
NEENAH - Anger over a grounding may have led a 16-year-old boy to strangle his father, according to a criminal complaint filed Tuesday.

Zachary B. Reid of Neenah was charged as an adult with first-degree intentional homicide, which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.

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Reid had kept a journal in which he threatened to "kill his father, remove his teeth and burn the body," Winnebago County District Attorney Christian Gossett said Tuesday.

A judge ordered Reid held on $300,000 cash bond. A preliminary hearing was set for Oct. 13.

Police had contact with Reid at least eight times since May stemming from incidents ranging from vandalism and drug thefts to threats to kill, maim and cut out the tongues of people who angered him, Gossett said.

"We feel he is definitely a serious risk to the community," he said.

Reid's attorney, Kevin Musolf, said his client had no criminal record and hadn't been arrested for any of the offenses mentioned by the prosecution.

"There is more to this case than what is included in the criminal complaint," Musolf said.

The complaint gave the following account:

Reid told friends on Sunday he strangled his father from behind and put the body in the trunk of his father's car. He then parked the car at an elementary school.

Acting on a tip, police found the body of 53-year-old Brett R. Reid wrapped in a blanket in the car. A plastic bag over his head was secured by a belt around his neck.

Zachary Reid told investigators his father had pulled a knife on him so he placed his father in a choke hold. Brett Reid instantly dropped the knife, but Zachary Reid maintained the pressure, intending to make his father pass out.

When he finally let go his father was no longer breathing. The teen told police he placed the bag over his father's head to catch any fluids and used his father's belt to secure the bag.

The teen's mother told investigators her son was upset because his father grounded him after he was suspended from school last month. She said she had never seen the two physically fight before but said Zachary Reid was bigger than his father and occasionally tried to intimidate him with his size.

The complaint lists Zachary Reid as being 6-foot-1 and 142 pounds. He outweighed his father, who endured a bout with cancer in the past, by nearly 60 pounds, Gossett said.

 

Associated Press