Houston, December 2003.
The Whitaker family is out for dinner to celebrate the imminent graduation of their eldest son, Thomas (known as "Bart").
Everyone is happy with Bart's success: he finished his exams with a very high average at a prestigious college and this is a good reason to convince his parents, Kent and Patricia, to give him a $4,000 Rolex.
Also with them is their youngest son Kevin, 19 years old.
After dinner, the four return home but, once they open the door, there is an armed man waiting for them, hidden in the living room, who fires several shots.
Kevin and Patricia die instantly, while Kent and Bart manage to survive.
The option of a robbery ended in tragedy is plausible: the Whitakers live in a wealthy neighborhood, often the target of thefts.
However, from the first investigations, something doesn't add up: the house is in disarray, but almost nothing has been stolen.
The only thing that is stolen is a safe hidden in Kevin's room that contains a gun, the same gun that fired the shots.
The investigation therefore immediately focuses on finding out who is really behind the horrible murder, probably someone who knows where the gun was and how to move around the house easily.
The media is restless, the news of a family massacre hits the entire nation.
But it is not just ordinary people who are hit, but also, and above all, Sam Houston State University, the university where Bart should graduate.
The university contacts the police, telling the truth about the boy's career: he is behind in his studies, with many exams behind and a very low average.
While he is still in the hospital, Kent is warned about Bart's school situation, which makes him a suspect in all respects.
Kent remains incredulous but believes that this cannot prove the guilt of the only survivor of his family's massacre.
But Bart's situation quickly worsens: a childhood friend of his, once guaranteed protection, confesses to having taken part in a massacre plan that should have been carried out in 2001, but which never came to fruition.
The mastermind behind the plan was none other than Bart.
The police therefore begin to investigate a new accomplice: right at Sam Houston State University, they find Chris Brashear, a colleague of Bart, who confesses to being the actual perpetrator of the murder, based on an idea of Bart.
But why did Bart plan to kill his entire family?
Bart was diagnosed with paranoid personality disorder, which led him to firmly believe that his family had taken out, for each member, a life insurance policy that totaled over 2 million dollars.
Bart tried already in 2001 to convince a friend of his to personally carry out the murder by promising him a million dollars, but failed to carry out the plan.
Only in 2003 does he manage to convince Chris Brashear by promising him the same amount.
He then stages a fake robbery: he convinces the whole family to go out to dinner to celebrate the end of his exams, while Chris waits for them at home.
Once they arrive, Chris shoots everyone, including Bart to make the plan even more credible.
Fortunately, Kent survives, ruining the plan for the family massacre.
Furthermore, Kent was the only one in the family to have a life insurance policy of 50,000 dollars, a figure absolutely not comparable to the one imagined by Bart.
Bart is sentenced to the death penalty for being the real mastermind of the massacre, while Chris is sentenced to life imprisonment.
The surprising thing is that Kent managed to forgive his only son and, in fact, began to fight fiercely against the death penalty in the state of Texas.
On March 23, 2018, a few minutes before the actual execution, Bart is pardoned by the governor of Texas and his sentence commuted to life in prison.
Kent continues to go to prison regularly to meet with Bart. Continue reading
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