Man Dances After Shooting Dad, Say Police

Jan. 12, 2009 — -- A Florida man went to a New Year's Eve party and danced to "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" just hours after he had fatally shot his elderly father, say police.

Robert Farley, 63, was arrested on Jan. 3 and charged with first degree murder in the slaying of his father, 93-year-old Walter Farley.

Robert Farley and his wife checked into the Red Rose Inn in Plant, Fla., Dec. 31. While his wife was napping, police say, Robert Farley drove back home and shot his father four times, then returned to the hotel to ring in the new year.

Robert Farley called 911 the next morning.

"He's laying on the floor. There's blood on the floor. There's blood on his back. He's not breathing and no pulse. It looks like he's been shot. Things are a mess and?bathrooms are all torn up and the radio's missing," Robert Farley said on the 911 recording.

A churchgoer and volunteer for the blind, he seemed an unlikely murderer.

"No criminal record. He's never been in trouble. He wakes up one day and decided to kill his 93-year-old father," said Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd.

Detectives say there had been tension in the home recently. Robert Farley told his father he was going to divorce his wife, Mary, because an illness would eventually require her to use a wheelchair. The men argued and Robert Farley shot his father at least four times during the scuffle, officials told the Florida Sun-Sentinel.

He took items from the home to make it look as if his father the was victim of a robbery, but police say there were too many holes in the son's story.

Robert Farley eventually told investigators he'd planned to kill his father for two months, Polk County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Carrie Eleazer told the Sun-Sentinel.