AZ - Timothy Romans, 39, & Vincent Romero, 29, slain, St Johns, 5 Nov 2008 - #1

[MeoW333]

Ok. Now I am 100% comfortable with the opinion he IS a psychopath. He proved to me he had no idea how to MIMIC appropriate responses to finding someone dead. He had no cues to draw from and his performance fell flat. Affect was all wrong. What I saw....was a cold, detached, remorseless killer.


.....but due to his young age....he's suffering from "conduct disorder"

After watching that video; it would be stupid for me not to agree with you. Wow.. that is so crazy; an 8 year old; i hope this doesn't start to become more commonplace.
He just killed 2 people and we don't hear any crying from him; no remorse; he is just talking as if having an everyday conversation with someone.
Linda, you are dead on about the mimicking and that he didn't know how to mimick responses to finding someone dead..

 

[Linda7NJ]

I think he's VERY skilled for 8.

I think he presents as Charming, Articulate, Well mannered, Confident and Helpful and rather Outgoing. IF he was talking about something trivial...everyone around him...especially teachers would think he was a great kid.

 

[oceanblueeyes]

http://www.azfamily.com/perl/common/slideshow/sspop.pl?recid=12959&nextimage=7

I wonder if this is his step mom?

Photo #8

 

[Linda7NJ]

After watching that video; it would be stupid for me not to agree with you. Wow.. that is so crazy; an 8 year old; i hope this doesn't start to become more commonplace.
He just killed 2 people and we don't hear any crying from him; no remorse; he is just talking as if having an everyday conversation with someone.
Linda, you are dead on about the mimicking and that he didn't know how to mimic responses to finding someone dead..

Your apology is accepted. I was never upset with you...just disagreed with your original opinion

 

[Linda7NJ]

http://www.azfamily.com/perl/common/slideshow/sspop.pl?recid=12959&nextimage=7

I wonder if this is his step mom?

Photo #8

great find! Think your right. other pics were interesting too!

 

[oceanblueeyes]

I think he's VERY skilled for 8.

I think he presents as Charming, Articulate, Well mannered, Confident and Helpful and rather Outgoing. IF he was talking about something trivial...everyone around him...especially teachers would think he was a great kid.

I can certainly understand why he felt everything should revolve around him.

I recall reading about a sociopath and they are very cunning and adaptable. And as long as those that are in their "pod" remains loyal and caters to their needs they will be accepted but if they dare to confront them then the sociopath will harshly banish them.

It was like when he was dared to be discipline he raged and thought "How dare YOU!"

Just my thoughts though.

 

[oceanblueeyes]

great find! Think your right. other pics were interesting too!

No wonder people in that town are totally stunned by all of this.

imoo

 

[lizzybeth]

I'm not sure why but I wasn't able to view the video. Maybe I'm just impatient and it was taking too long to load.

I'll take you guys' word for it though. It's just so hard to believe that there were no signs before that this boy was capable of doing something evil.

 

[southcitymom]

The Apache County Attorney's Office released this video of the interview with an 8 year old boy who is suspected of the murdering his own father and a man who was staying at the house. This is the first 12 minutes of the police interview.

http://www.azfamily.com/video/3tvextra-index.html?nvid=304550&shu=1

Thank you, Lisa. Great find.

Listening to that was tough. He even sounds and presents a lot like my own 8 year old son.

I am assuming this is the first interview - and happened before he confessed - is that right?

 

[Linda7NJ]

Perhaps he had some type of undiagnosed head injury?

Doesn't really matter, he is what he is and he can't be fixed.

The 11 yr old previously mentioned seemed to be created by the perfect storm of prenatal drug exposure, chronic physical & sexual abuse, and frontal lobe damage that was never diagnosed until I had a complete neurological work up done. Amazing there were still many that believe he was totally innocent of every single allegation and charge .....dispute detailed confessions and polygraph results, JSOAP assessments along with MMPI and other psych evals. Many believe he's "rehabilitated"

 

[Linda7NJ]

Thank you, Lisa. Great find.

Listening to that was tough. He even sounds and presents a lot like my own 8 year old son.

I am assuming this is the first interview - and happened before he confessed - is that right?

It's the first twelve minutes...it's much longer

 

[colette]

In the video where is says he checks his father to see "a little bit alive" I'm thinking that's when he pumps more bullets into him because he was.

 

[southcitymom]

It's the first twelve minutes...it's much longer

Right - I wonder at what point he confessed - was it later on in this interview - or another interview.

Also, the detective kept asking him if he was sure he didn;t go home before he came upon the bodies - I wionder what sort of evidence they had at that point in the interview that led them to believe he had been home before finding the bodies.

He did say he stayed by his Dad's body and cried for 30 mimutes.

Gosh - I wish we could listen to the whole thing. As you and others have pointed out - he was bright, articulate, helpful - just sweet and charming in this interview.

 

[colette]

In those pictures the home is so close to the road and other homes, there was no hiding the roomer's body.

 

[Linda7NJ]

Right - I wonder at what point he confessed - was it later on in this interview - or another interview.

Also, the detective kept asking him if he was sure he didn;t go home before he came upon the bodies - I wionder what sort of evidence they had at that point in the interview that led them to believe he had been home before finding the bodies.

He did say he stayed by his Dad's body and cried for 30 mimutes.

Gosh - I wish we could listen to the whole thing. As you and others have pointed out - he was bright, articulate, helpful - just sweet and charming in this interview.

My understanding, it was at the end of the first interview.

 

[Linda7NJ]

In the video where is says he checks his father to see "a little bit alive" I'm thinking that's when he pumps more bullets into him because he was.

me too......I am wondering if he waited simply to ensure they were both deader than a door nail.....gasping their final breaths

 

[Linda7NJ]

Right - I wonder at what point he confessed - was it later on in this interview - or another interview.

Also, the detective kept asking him if he was sure he didn;t go home before he came upon the bodies - I wonder what sort of evidence they had at that point in the interview that led them to believe he had been home before finding the bodies.

He did say he stayed by his Dad's body and cried for 30 minutes.

Gosh - I wish we could listen to the whole thing. As you and others have pointed out - he was bright, articulate, helpful - just sweet and charming in this interview.

I am so thankful that my 10 yr old son is a terrible liar! He has a conscience....it's written all over his face. When he even tried to lie.....
His eyes get as big as silver dollars....lie starts off with a labored hard swallow...followed by some stammering........it's such a beautiful thing!

He saw a dog hit by a car this past summer. He was devastated, cried and had nightmares for weeks! He still talks about it.

 

[twinkiesmom]

Twinkies,

Many people on this thread have weighed in with personal experiences of being raised around and with and using guns to hunt from a young age. Why do you discount their experiences?

I discount their experiences because we are not talking about the vast majority of hunting families...or the vast majority of children from broken homes who don't kill their custodial parents. We are talking about one homicidal child here.

This situation is unique to this particular child who was from a broken home (complete with police visits and a largely absent mother), who was a premie with underdeveloped lungs (which suggests possible FAS/FAE to me), who reportedly placed video games constantly and was taught to hunt at an early age.

It appears to me that the gun lobby is threatened whenever anyone suggests owning a gun might not be a good idea, even when it clearly isn't a good idea. All logic and reason goes out the window. And that old adage of guns don't kill people, people kill people is a load of crap when we're talking about a small child.

The dad obviously had reservations about buying the gun in the first place since he contacted the priest about it. If you know what you're doing is the right thing as a parent, there's no need to ask a priest.

Hunting families need to judge whether their children are emotionally ready and mature enough for this sort of sport before buying them lethal weapons for which they have unrestricted access. Simply passing a weapon from one generation to the next at age 8 is not a good idea.

 

[southcitymom]

.....We are talking about one homicidal child here.....Hunting families need to judge whether their children are emotionally ready and mature enough for this sort of sport before buying them lethal weapons for which they have unrestricted access. Simply passing a weapon from one generation to the next at age 8 is not a good idea.

Of course I agree with you, but it seems like more than a bit of Monday morning quarterbacking in this case.

The problem is - unless I have missed something - no one seemed to know this was a potentially homicidal child. By all accounts so far, it seemed like <redacted> presented as an intelligent, well-adjusted boy. In the videotape of the first 12 minutes of his interview, this seems even clearer to me.

The very fact that his Dad talked to the priest about it tells me he was a thoughtful Father. It doesn't tell me that he had concerns his child would murder.

I just don't think anyone had a clue that this child was capable of what he did.

 

[oceanblueeyes]

Of course I agree with you, but it seems like more than a bit of Monday morning quarterbacking in this case.

The problem is - unless I have missed something - no one seemed to know this was a potentially homicidal child. By all accounts so far, it seemed like <redacted> presented as an intelligent, well-adjusted boy. In the videotape of the first 12 minutes of his interview, this seems even clearer to me.

The very fact that his Dad talked to the priest about it tells me he was a thoughtful Father. It doesn't tell me that he had concerns his child would murder.

I just don't think anyone had a clue that this child was capable of what he did.

I don't think Vincent ever realized the danger he was in. I think this boy was able to mimic normalcy and knew how to appear to be a good kid. The father never had a clue that this would happen imo.

imoo