Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

CdA teen tells police he thought about killing brother for ‘a while’

Eldon Gale Samuel III told police detectives he had contemplated killing his younger brother Jonathan for “a while” and also said “I hated him” when asked about his relationship with the 13-year-old autistic boy.

“It seemed like he (their father) cared for Jon more than anybody,” Samuel said during police questioning in the hours after the 14-year-old was arrested for killing his father and brother on March 24, 2014.

On Friday, jurors in Samuel’s murder trial watched a video of the interview by two Coeur d’Alene police detectives. The session began at 11:30 p.m. and ended at 2:45 a.m. the next day.

At the start, Samuel claimed his father killed Jonathan after Samuel had shot his father once in the stomach. The detectives said they didn’t believe that part of his story and that investigators at the house were uncovering evidence of what really happened.

“We’re super good at our jobs. … We’re going to figure it all out,” said Detective Jason Wilhelm, the school resource officer at Lakes Magnet Middle School where Samuel was in eighth grade.

Samuel, now 16, said he tried to coax his brother out from under his bed. “I tried to get Jon out,” he said, adding, “He’s always afraid of me.”

He then said he cut his brother with a machete as the younger boy hid under the bed, guessing he struck him with the blade about 30 times on his wrists, legs and head. After more probing by the investigators, Samuel admitted he first shot Jonathan at least four times with a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun, stopping once to reload.

He said he aimed the gun under the bed and fired, then threw off the mattress for better access to his brother, who was “cussing at me,” Samuel said. He then stood to demonstrate for the detectives how he struck Jonathan with the machete, holding the weapon with both hands and making sounds to represent the blows. Asked how hard he swung, Samuel answered, “As hard as I could.”

Was Jonathan still alive after that? a detective asked. “He was being quiet after that,” Samuel replied.

Jonathan Samuel bled to death from numerous wounds and had been shot 10 times by a shotgun and a .45-caliber handgun, Sally Aiken, the Spokane County medical examiner, testified Wednesday. Most of the scores of stabbing and cutting wounds on the body were inflicted after the boy had died, she said.

Samuel blamed his brother for the family’s problems, including his parents’ divorce and their prescription drug abuse. If Jonathan was gone, “my dad wouldn’t be taking medication, my mom wouldn’t have left,” he told the detectives.

Samuel said he shot his father in self-defense, but also said he had thought about doing it before that night. “I thought about it every time he beat me,” he said.

Eldon Samuel Jr. was on medication that “made him crazy,” the boy told investigators, and on the night of the killings he had gone outside the house and fired one round from the .45 semi-automatic double-action pistol.

“He said there might be zombies outside and stuff,” Samuel said in the interview.

He said his father came back inside and hit him near his left shoulder. Samuel, who had obtained the gun and was concealing it behind his back, said he decided he would shoot his father if he hit him again. After the second strike, Samuel said he shot his father when the two were in Samuel’s small bedroom.

“I felt, like, scared that he was going to kill me,” he said during the interrogation. Samuel also stated he thought his father may have had another handgun, a 9 mm semi-automatic, on him. Investigators found that second gun, fully loaded, next to the bathroom sink.

Samuel’s father crawled to Jonathan’s room, leaving a trail of blood, and Samuel followed, according to the teen. To make sure he was dead, he said he shot him twice more in the left cheek, then once in the left temple. Aiken said the man already was dead by then.

Samuel said, “I kind of feel bad for my dad” dying, but added he wasn’t bothered that his brother was dead.

When the detectives asked Samuel what should happen to someone who had just killed his father and brother, the boy answered with one word: “Die.”

During the police interview Samuel also talked about video games he liked to play, including “Grand Theft Auto V,” and his favorite character – Trevor – from that violent game. “He’s a sociopath” who gets angry and shoots people, Samuel told investigators. He said he had played the game earlier that day.

Samuel also explained why he missed a lot of days at school. “I was sick,” he said in the interview. He told them he’d rather stay home and sleep, adding he has trouble sleeping because he’s tired and has headaches. He said his dad gave him pills to help him sleep.

Kootenai County Public Defender John Adams questioned Detective Wilhelm about psychological interrogation techniques he and Detective Sgt. Brandon McCormick used to persuade Samuel to confess. Adams asked about techniques such as steering the conversation away from Samuel’s fear of his father and past instances of abuse.

He also asked Wilhelm why he didn’t order Samuel to submit to a drug test to determine what medication he may have been on, or order that his father’s hands be placed in bags to preserve evidence that would confirm he had fired the handgun that night.

The trial in 1st District Court began Wednesday and could last four or more weeks.