Nightline: Savage Death in a Small Town
Feb. 8 -- Brenda Warren never thought she would have to worry about her son J.R.'s safety in their small town of Grant Town, West Virginia.
But on July 4, police officers visited Brenda Warren to inform her that her 26-year-old severely learning disabled son was an apparent victim of a hit-and-run accident. But Warren would soon find out much more about the circumstances of her son's death.
Independence Day
Late in the evening on July 3, 2000, Warren was on one of his typical walks in the neighborhood and stopped by to see three acquaintances painting a house. David Parker and Jared Wilson, both 17, and Jason Shoemaker, 15, had apparently been drinking and taking drugs over the course of the evening. The late-night meeting became strained after Parker accused Warren of spreading rumors that they had a sexual relationship. An argument ensued after Warren discovered the teenagers stole $20 from his wallet. The situation quickly deteriorated.
In the early hours of the Fourth of July, Parker and Wilson, who were wearing steel-toed boots, savagely punched and kicked Warren repeatedly. The suspects then threw his bloodied body in the trunk of a Chevy Camaro and drove off. According to Shoemaker's testimony, Warren climbed from the back of the hatchback and asked the boys repeatedly to take him home. Instead, they stopped and dumped Warren on the side of the road. In an apparent attempt to make the incident look like a hit and run, they proceed to run Warren over, not once, but several times. Shoemaker, who witnessed the killing but claims he did not participate, told his mother about the incident, and then she notified the police.
Parker and Wilson, now 18, are being charged as adults with first-degree murder and face the possibility of life in prison if convicted. Prosecutors allege that Warren was killed because he told others about a sexual relationship he had with Parker. In a pretrial hearing in late September, Parker's confession read: "I beat him up real bad. J.R. had been making advances to me and telling people he had a sexual relationship with me."
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