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Brothers charged in slaying of father
©Associated Press PENSACOLA -- Two brothers, ages 12 and 13, were charged Wednesday with killing their father whose body was found in their burning home. Derek King, the 13-year-old, and Alex King were missing when firefighters found the body of Terry Lee King, 40, in the suburban home north of Pensacola early Monday. The brothers surrendered Tuesday to Escambia County sheriff's deputies, who questioned them. "We have no indication of any kind of motive whatsoever," Chief Deputy Larry Smith said at a news conference. "They provided us a statement, but I would rather not go into whether or not there was a confession." Smith declined to comment on whether the boys expressed remorse. Each was charged with an open count of murder, leaving it to prosecutors or a grand jury to determine the degree. Arson was suspected, but no related charge was filed Wednesday. Prosecutors have yet to decide whether they will be prosecuted as adults. If they are, they could receive life sentences if convicted of first-degree murder. In July, Nathaniel Brazill, who was 14 when he shot and killed his teacher in Lake Worth, was sentenced to 28 years in prison. In January, Lionel Tate, was sentenced to life in prison for killing a 6-year-old girl in Pembroke Park when he was 12. The King boys were being held without bail at a juvenile detention center. Smith said the victim suffered head trauma, but he declined to be more specific. He also would not say where the boys went after the slaying but said they turned themselves in through a friend. Investigators were interviewing neighbors, family and foster parents who had one of the children for a while to try to determine the kind of relationship the boys had with their father, Smith said. There has been no indication they were involved in drugs or gangs or had any problems in school, Smith said. "It's my understanding the children were exceptionally bright and good students." Before the boys were charged, Joyce Tracy, Terry King's mother and their grandmother, told the Pensacola News Journal she couldn't believe they would kill her son. "I don't think there's any way they could even think about doing that," the Pensacola woman said. "They were loving children and they couldn't have done that." The victim's father, Wilbur King, said Terry, employed by a printing company, was a quiet man who worked hard to raise his sons. Terry King reported the boys missing Nov. 16, and called the Pensacola News Journal on Thanksgiving Day to complain that deputies were doing nothing to find them. He told the newspaper their mother, to whom he was never married, lives in Kentucky. Smith could not confirm that but said she "has been out of the picture for an extended period of time." King withdrew the missing boys from Ransom Middle School on Nov. 19, but two days later told school officials he wanted to re-enroll them, although they were still missing, said Ronnie Arnold, spokesman for the Escambia County School District. Deputies in neighboring Santa Rosa County picked up Derek in a wooded area of Pace on Saturday and took him home. On Sunday, Alex called a friend or relative to say he wanted to go home. That person picked him up and took him to his father. "Alex is quiet. When Derek came back, he was glad to be home. They were both so happy to be with each other," the boys' grandmother said.
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From the Times state desk
From the state wire
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