Washington Dad Calls His Son Minutes Before His Other Son Shot Him Dead

Steven Standley called one of his sons and instructed him to call emergency services just minutes before he and his wife, Theresa were brutally killed by their other son.

Steven and Theresa, 55 and 56, respectively, were allegedly killed by their son in their home on 162nd Street in South Prairie, Washington.

The son who was warned to call 911 waited the time his father said to and then called for a welfare check for his parents.

He told the 911 operator that his sibling, Jared Standley, suffered from anger problems and had just come into town, might have gotten a gun, and was going to talk to their father.

He did wait, and called 911 after his father didn’t answer several phone call attempts.

Ed Troyer, a detective with the Sheriff’s Department of Pierce county, and other officers arrived at the home to find the front door glass with a bullet hole in it.

When they went into the house, they discovered the dead bodies of the couple. Jared had already left the scene.

One body was wrapped in a tarp, so he might have been planning to hide his parents’ bodies to avoid being caught.

Law enforcement immediately determined the vehicle the suspect had rented and put out a BOLO for Jared Standley at 20 minutes past midnight. He was apprehended around 1:15 am by an officer outside of a hotel in Tumwater. The Tumwater officer called for backup from the Thurston County sheriffs department.

When a deputy attempted to approach the vehicle, Jared, 21, charged the car toward the officer, prompting the officer to open fire. The suspect was struck by a bullet in the shoulder.

He continued to try to leave so one of the officers hit his vehicle purposely to get him to stop.

Troyer regrets that any force had to be used, but is glad that it didn’t turn out as badly as it could have. He described the demeanor of the suspect as one of “not being taken alive.”

No officers were injured during the arrest, and they were able to take Standley alive as well.

Jared Standley was identified, and he was transported to be treated for nonfatal injuries at a local hospital. He was arrested for the murder of his parents.

He told a detective that he killed them because he hated them so much.

Steven and Theresa had asked their son to vacate their home the week before. This was a main source of his anger and hatred towards them.

Standley recalled that when he went to the house, he first murdered his mom by bludgeoning her with a baseball bat.

When his dad got there, he attempted to get him in the house to shoot or stab him, the court documents show.

Steven ran inside and Jared followed him. Steven attempted to hold the front door closed, but, Jared allegedly shot him in the head through the glass of the door.

Jared told detectives that he didn’t feel a gunshot to the head is that upsetting, but that he was pretty sorry about having to hit his mother with the bat two times.

Jared was charged with two counts of aggravated first-degree murder.

If he is convicted, he will be given life in prison without the possibility of parole or the death penalty.

The family of the slain couple has released a statement about this horrible tragedy. They state that their hearts are broken with the loss of their family members. They are described as two wonderful human beings who meant a lot to all who knew them.

As parents, they loved unconditionally, and did all they could to ensure their kids had good lives.

They were once a happy family, but the drug use and mental state of their son Jared impacted them all.

Parricide, the act of killing one’s parents used to be called a crime of schizophrenia, but is recognized now as being much more complicated than that.

In the United States, parent murders have accounted for 2% of all murders between 1976 and 1998. France and the United Kingdom have similar statistics.

The scandalous nature of this type of killing attracts the fascination of many.

Other cases of parents being murdered by their children include Jose and Kitty Menendez, who were shot to death by their sons, Erik and Lyle. They are both serving life sentences in separate prisons. Their story was recently made into a true crime miniseries on TV.

Another case, which was turned into the Lifetime Movie “The Morrison Murders” took place in Ariton, Alabama. One of the sons of a successful trucking company owner killed his father, his mother, and one of his brothers. Jason Culverhouse shot his parents, Tullie and Nina, and his brother, Lee in September of 1988 and will remain behind bars for life.