Grandson Suspect In Orchestrated Killing Of Strict Grandparents

Chester, SC – Clayton Eli Watts, 17, has been arrested for allegedly offering his friends, 19-year-old Shaderius Demark Cohen and 18-year-old Marquaes Buchanan, $5,000 to aid in the murder of his grandparents. It has been suggested the only reason Watts wanted his adopted guardians dead is because they were too strict.

Authorities say there is a text message trail between the teens discussing the plan Watts had been allegedly formulating since before Christmas.

Chester Counter Sheriff, Major Bill Murphy, said the boys laid in wait for the grandparents to return home Tuesday evening. When 59-year-old Jimmie Dianne Paul entered, she was ambushed in her kitchen and shot three times in the chest with a.357 revolver.

Paul’s husband, Mack Paul, discovered her body minutes after she was shot and notified authorities. The murder plot against Mr. Paul failed when he did not immediately join his wife in the house, instead going out to the shed to work on his boat. Mrs. Paul was pronounced dead at 6:45 pm. She worked as a court clerk in Chester County.

All three teenagers are facing a charge of murder and firearm possession, and will be prosecuted as adults.

If in fact these young men are guilty of the aforementioned crime than I have to say I am concerned by this flagrantly depressing example of our youth and the manner in which they problem solve.

Parenting styles differ. Some are so relaxed they let their children do and say just about anything, regardless of the frustration and annoyance it causes bystanders. Other guardians rule under the philosophy of spare the rod spoil the child, controlling and authoritarian. However your parenting style you should not have to fear life threatening retaliation from the loved ones you have raised and cared for, with the consideration the children were never intentionally harmed or abused.

No details about the boy’s (Watts) biological parents or previous childhood background were provided. I do not know the intimate details of this young man’s home life, other than to assess they didn’t let him do the things he wanted to. I don’t assume he was mistreated in an abusive sense. My observation is more of concern for such an extreme and rash resolution to what I feel was not a problem, executed by an ungrateful young man, unaware of how much worse his life will now be because of his actions. His decision to kill his grandparents has inalterably changed not only his life, but the lives of his accomplices, his grandfather, and those in the community. Inalterable in that his grandmother is now dead and Watts will have to answer for it for the rest of his life.

Consider the boy could have waited less than a year, when he turned 18, and left in lieu of formulating a murderous parricide plot with a couple of friends. And where does a 17-year-old boy get or think he can get $5,000?

[Image via Flickr Creative Common]