Grandmother of 8 Year Old Arizona Boy Who Killed Father & Friend Says Boy was “Capable” of Murder, Mom Says He Loved his Dad

Earlier this month we were presented with the shocking and unbelievable horror that an 8 year old St. Johns, AZ boy fatally shot his father, Vincent Romero, 29, and Timothy Romans, 39, of San Carlos with a .22-caliber rifle. The 8 year old boy was charged with two counts of premeditated murder.

The double murder case has already taken some bizarre turns in that first police interrogated the 8 year old boy getting the minor to confess without having a lawyer, parent or guardian present. Then more recently the prosecutor looked to drop one of the murder counts against the 8 year old. Now, the grandparents of the 8 year old boy accused of the double murder stated that the boy was “capable” of committing such crimes.

In documents released Wednesday by the Apache County prosecutor’s office, St. Johns police Chief Roy Melnick said that Liz Romero, also known as Liz Castillo, shouted out angrily when she was told the boy would be arrested in the Nov. 5 killings.

“I knew this would happen,” she said. “They were too hard on (the boy). I knew (the boy) did it. He spent the night in my bed cuddling up to me. I had a feeling he did it. If any 8-year-old boy is capable of doing this it’s (the boy).”

The boy’s grandfather, Leroy Romero, echoed the statement and pushed his ex-wife to tell police more. But Melnick said she was overcome with emotion and he and another officer were asked to leave.

Before they did, Liz Romero said the boy’s stepmother, who he was living with, “had a feeling (the boy) did it.” as well.

The 8 year old boy’s defense attorney, Benjamin Brewer, stated that the boy’s grandmother likely was stressed and that he would interview her to see what she has to say. Actually Mr. Defense attorney, that is called an utterance. Usually what people have at the tip of their tongue is unrehearsed and true rather than the fabricated stories and attempts at creating plausible deniability that Defense liars are so known to do.

In an interview with Good Morning America, the boys mother Eryn Thomas stated that her son had a very good relationship with his father and loved his dad. The key word here is the use of the past tense of the word “loved”. Loved, good relationship? It is hard to believe that this could be the case when the end result is a double homicide.

“He had a very good relationship with his father,” the boy’s mother, Eryn Thomas, told ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “He did a lot with him. They did everything together. He loved his dad.”

During the interview, Thomas listened to the videotape of the boy’s police confession and said she heard a “scared little boy. That’s what I hear. Someone who’s very afraid of what’s going on.”

 UPDATE I: Police: St. Johns boy vowed 1000th spanking would be limit

An 8-year-old St. Johns boy charged with double-homicide may have kept a written record of spankings by his parents, vowing that the 1,000th would be his limit, according to a police records released Friday.

A search affidavit by Sgt. Lucas Rodriguez says the child “is believed to have made ledgers and or communicated in the form of writings about his intentions. (The boy) told a CPS . . . worker that when he reached one thousand spankings . . . that would be his limit. (The boy) kept a tally of his spankings on a piece of paper.”

In a statement to police a day after the Nov. 5 killings, the boy said he had been spanked the day before the shootings because he did not complete a school assignment.