15-year-old boy, who felt an urge to kill his parents and waited for his mother to come down the stairs before hitting her in the head and stabbing her with a knife, will be tried as an adult

Wisconsin – In a chilling case from Wisconsin, a 15-year-old boy, identified as Reed G., faces charges as an adult for the murder of his mother, Suzanne G. The tragic incident, reportedly inspired by a television show about the Menendez brothers, has shocked the community and raised questions about the influence of media on young minds.

On the evening of March 4, local police were called to the family’s residence, where they discovered a gruesome scene. Suzanne was found in the foyer of her home, suffering from multiple stab wounds and wearing blood-soaked clothing. Upon the officers’ arrival, Reed was seen exiting the house, reportedly pleading with the officers to kill him while confessing, “She is dead,” and “She is dead from what I did.” Near the front stoop of the home, he dropped a kitchen knife he had been holding.

According to the criminal complaint, Reed had been experiencing deep emotional turmoil on the day of the murder. He told police that he felt depressed and had an urge to kill his parents. Compounding his unstable mental state, he admitted to consuming nine anxiety pills that were prescribed to his brother to achieve a high. The complaint provides a detailed account of the attack, describing how Reed was watching a crime documentary about the notorious Menendez brothers, who were convicted of murdering their parents in 1989. Allegedly inspired by the “shotgun scene” from the show, Reed developed a plan to kill his parents.

That night, while his mother was watching a movie on her computer, Reed pretended to retrieve his sleep medication but instead armed himself with a kitchen knife and a dumbbell handle concealed up his shirt sleeve. When his mother descended the stairs to help him find his medication, Reed struck her twice in the head with the dumbbell. When she did not fall, he pushed her to the floor and stabbed her three times in the chest and twice in the neck.

After the attack, Reed reportedly sent an image from the crime scene to a friend and instructed her to call the police. He was taken into custody and appeared in court on March 7, with a preliminary hearing scheduled for March 12. Charged with first-degree intentional homicide, he faces the possibility of a severe sentence, reflective of the heinous nature of his alleged crime. During an earlier court appearance on March 6, his bond was set at $1 million.

This tragic case has ignited a debate about the potential impact of violent media on young individuals. Reed’s alleged inspiration from a television show that dramatizes a real-life double murder raises significant concerns about the consumption of such content by impressionable audiences. The community, reeling from the shock of such violence within a family, is now left to grapple with the complexities of mental health, media influence, and the legal implications of trying a teenager as an adult. As the legal process unfolds, many are calling for a deeper investigation into the factors that led to this tragedy, hoping to prevent future incidents of this nature.