Eldon Samuel was a fourteen year old teen killer from Idaho who would murder his father and brother
According to court documents Eldon Samuel was raised in a unusual household where his father was preparing his sons for a zombie apocalypse and his mother was fighting a severe drug problem. Soon the fourteen year old would have enough and would fatally shoot his father and would attack his thirteen year old brother with machete causing his death
Eldon Samuel would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to life in prison with parole eligibility in 2034
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Eldon Gale Samuel
IDOC #: 118780
Status: In custody
Age: 24
Idaho Correctional Institution-Orofino
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Eldon Samuel III appealed after a jury found him guilty of second degree murder for killing his father and first degree murder for killing his brother.
Samuel’s younger brother was severely autistic and required significant attention. Both of Samuel’s parents had prescription drug addictions which led to financial problems, criminal charges, and arrests. Throughout Samuel’s childhood the family lived in shoddy, cockroach-infested residences and moved frequently, usually after they had been evicted for not paying rent.
Samuel’s mother started abusing pain pills following a car accident when Samuel was 4, became suicidal, and was hospitalized several times. Samuel’s father became addicted to pain pills after he injured his shoulder at work. Samuel’s father began to believe that a “zombie apocalypse” was inevitable. Samuel’s mother testified that Samuel’s father taught him how to kill zombies by playing violent video games, watching zombie themed movies, and training Samuel to use knives and guns.
In 2014, officers responded to a 911 call at the Samuel residence that the father had been shot. Samuel would give officers a different version of events that night. Samuel’s father was on medication when he shot a .45 gun outside, believing that a “zombie apocalypse” had begun. Samuel told his father to go back inside. Once his father went inside he pushed Samuel in the chest and told him to leave. Samuel picked up his father’s gun, and when his father pushed him a second time, Samuel shot him in the stomach. Samuel’s father then crawled to Samuel’s brother’s room, leaving a trail of blood on the floor. Samuel did not believe the first shot killed his father and shot him three more times in the head once he reached Samuel’s brother’s room.
Samuel got a shotgun and shot his brother while he was under the bed. Samuel reloaded the shotgun and continued to shoot his brother. Samuel then dropped the shotgun and started to stab at his brother with a knife. Samuel moved the mattress off of the bed frame and got a machete. Samuel swung the machete at his brother through the gaps in the wood planks of the bed frame. When his brother tried to climb out from underneath the bed, Samuel hit him in the back of the head with the machete. Samuel continued to swing the machete as hard as he could until his brother stopped talking and was quiet.
At that point, Samuel called 911. Originally, the State charged Samuel with two counts of first degree murder. However, after a preliminary hearing, the magistrate court found the State had not established probable cause on the premeditation element for the murder of Samuel’s father. Thus, Samuel was charged with first degree murder for his brother and second degree murder for his father. Samuel challenged the district court’s refusal to suppress certain statements he made to police. He also challenged the sufficiency of the evidence presented against him at trial. Finding these challenges unpersuasive, the Idaho Supreme Court affirmed conviction.
https://law.justia.com/cases/idaho/supreme-court-criminal/2019/44182.html
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A judge ruled a north Idaho teen is now considered an adult and received a sentence of a combined 20 years in prison for first- and second-degree murder charges on Monday.
The judge said Eldon Samuel III can no longer be held in juvenile detention center. The 16-year-old will have to be transferred out of the Kootenai County Jail within 48 hours and committed to the custody of the Idaho Department of Correction.
I can’t take the risk on the reactive attachment disorder Mr. Samuel. I’m sorry,” the judge said during sentencing.
The judge ruled Samuel will serve 20 years for his first-degree murder charge and 10 years for his second-degree murder charge, to be served concurrently. He will be eligible for parole at the end of his sentence.
Samuel’s mother Tina Samuel took the stand and read a statement that said in part, “My son Eldon saved my life several times or I wouldn’t be alive today.”
Samuel also took the stand and said ” I’m not the same person I was two years ago. I’ve changed mentally, physically, and spiritually.”
Sameul also said Coeur d’Alene pastor Tim Remington helped him improve in all three of those areas.
“A day does not go by I forget what I did,” he said. “There is nothing worse than what I did that night.”
“It’s hard, the nature of the injuries that were inflicted, it’s very difficult even after doing this job for many years,” Kootenai County Prosecutor Barry McHugh said. “I felt it had to be hard for the jurors to see all that information, the judge as well, so it’s good to have what we feel like is the appropriate result and I would hope not to see another case like it.”
Samuel was convicted of killing his 46-year-old father, Eldon Samuel Jr., and his 13-year-old brother, Jonathan Samuel, on March 24, 2014 in Coeur d’Alene. He was just 14 at the time, but was charged as an adult. A jury convicted him on Jan. 29.
Two doctors testified during the sentencing. The first doctor said Samuel had reactive aggression and trauma disorders. The second doctor testified about the effects of sending a juvenile to an adult prison or juvenile facility.