01x04 - The Sins of Our Son

[bunniefuu]

-[birds singing]
-[children chattering]

Well, no parent ever looks at
their little kid

and thinks he's gonna be
a mass m*rder*r someday.

Or a m*rder*r, period.

As a parent, you have all these
hopes and dreams for your kids,

and then they just
let you down.

[dark tones playing]

This is a photo of me and Timmy,
you know, back when it was just

me and Tim against the world.

And, uh...

and we were kicking its a*s.

I looked forward every day to
coming home to him.

You know, I couldn't wait to get
home to him.

I just wanted to
make sure that...

he grew up happy and knew that
he was very loved.

I made a promise to myself
and to him that I would do

everything in my power
to give him

a better upbringing
than I had.

I was just a average Joe.

I wanted him to be...
special.

Somewhere, I went wrong.

Well, I'll tell you right now,
if there is a God,

and they do forgive him,
send me to Hell.

And I [bleep] tell you now,
send me straight to Hell.

Because I don't want to be
there with him.

I knew damn well in my heart
something wasn't right...

I never did nothing.

Now because of that,
five children lay dead.

I can understand why people
look at me the way they do.

You know,
that I raised a [bleep] monster.

[The Paper Chase's "What's So
Amazing About Grace?" plays]

[static crackling]

[strings continue
playing sinister tune]

-[knock at door]
-[creaking]

-[banging on door]
-[creaking]

[static buzzing]

[banging, creaking continue]

[fire crackling]

[banging on door]

[suspenseful chord strikes]

[birds singing]

[somber music playing]

[Tim, Sr.] This is where we used
to go to church.

We'd bring my grandchildren.

And, uh, they loved it here.

Well, ever since
my grandchildren were k*lled,

I just...I just can't find
myself to come back,

because of what my son did.

You know, and I struggled
to do that, but I came.

Everybody's been wonderful
here, so there ain't nothing to

do with no folks
here whatsoever.

It's me.
I know it's me at this point.

You know, it's like,

"I know they're staring at me,"
and they're not.

Well, as a parent of a child
that's k*lled

his own children,

I mean, I find it most difficult
to deal with because...

I question my faith,
I question everything now.

I never questioned it before.

-You OK?
-Mm-hmm.

[Tim, Sr.]
I was overwhelmed, because now
I knew not only did

you know, I have my son,

but now I got to
provide him the life that

we were trying to do before,
but just by myself.

I was like,
it's gonna be tough.

I didn't want him to feel like
he was abandoned from me.

But more than anything,
just to be happy.

And I was gonna do
my ever-loving best to give him

everything he needed.

I got on a third shift job,

to where I would go to work at

every night to put him to bed.

And then I would go to work,
and I'd get home at six,

then of course I'd wake him up,
make him breakfast.

I would...

be able to spend
the whole day with Timmy

when he'd get home from school.

So I was with him the whole
time, and he didn't know

I was gone or nothing.
And so it worked out real well.

When me and Timmy,

it was just us,

I thought it would make
a stronger bond, I did.

I mean, at that point,
I thought

everything was perfect.

One year, at Christmas,
I got Timmy a BB g*n,

and, you know, we'd go out
and sh**t it in the yard,

and, you know, had little
targets and stuff,

and, you know, it was all fun.

We went through all the safety,
you know, things,

that you don't aim it at no one,
you don't ever sh**t at no one.

You know, I don't even want
you sh**ting at animals.

One day, I came home from work

and walked into the apartment,
and I seen Timmy,

and he looks at me and says

he had shot the neighbor
in the leg

with the BB g*n.

This guy was like 73 years old
or something like that.

You know, and he shot him right
in the back of the leg,

and just,
it was real nasty.

And when I confronted him
about it, I was just like,

"You obviously knew what
you were doing."

And he said, you know,
that he wanted to see what

it would do
if he shot somebody.

I was just, I was irate.
Because we had discussed it.

But he didn't...

he didn't accept punishment
very well.

You know, he'd get mad at me,
and yell at me.

Well, at the time, I thought
Timmy was acting out,

you know, because he was
a young kid and he'd already

lost his mother.

I believe Timmy always had
mother issues, there's no doubt.

This is my two boys,
my three boys,

with me in front of
the Christmas tree.

But you could look at Timmy
and see that

he really wasn't a happy kid
at that time.

Not happy about sharing me...

is the way I always took it.

You know, or being
a part of a family.

You know, he was very jealous.

I mean, he despised my wife.

He always was just...

causing trouble for us.

Tim told me that
she was treating him badly,

that she would make him
stay in his room,

wouldn't let him come out,
and, you know, he'd say

he was hungry, she wouldn't
give him nothing to eat.

He's lying to me.

He's just trying to get me to
get rid of her.

You know, so it's just me
and him again.

I always try to reassure him
that I'm always gonna be

there for him.

You need a mother figure
as well,

you know, and he just didn't --

he didn't want nothing
to do with it.

Timmy was always jealous of
his siblings, always.

He never -- he never wanted
anything to do with them

unless I was there.

But I would even notice,
once in a while, that he'd get

a little rougher with them
than he should.

And sometimes he would take it
a little further than

it needed to be.

And I always felt that he was
sort of doing that on purpose

to maybe get even with me
or with my wife.

Everything he seemed to do
at that point was to

stick a knife in
the middle of it, you know.

Always wanted to
poke into it.

He wanted all the attention.

I felt that I was caught
between my son and my wife,

and I just didn't know which
way to turn.

So I was caught
in the middle

of a real [bleep] situation,
really.

There was an incident once
with a dog,

a family dog we had,
the sweetest dog.

You couldn't even get this dog
to growl at you.

I mean, she was just so sweet.

Well, Timmy's room was in
the basement at the time.

And the dog was
downstairs with Tim.

And then I see the dog.

All of a sudden, it has like
a red, bloody eye,

you know, like somebody had

poked it in the eye
or something.

And I questioned Timmy,

did you do something
to the dog?

He's like, "I didn't do nothing
to your dog."

He seemed pissed off.

And I know the other kids
didn't do it, because like

I said, it had been downstairs,
and it came up, and I had

noticed it right away.
And so I knew he was lying.

And to me, that's just
unbelievable, because this dog

was just so kind and sweet.
And to hit this dog,

you know, or poke its eye
or whatever

had happened,
to me was just really cruel.

And it scared
the hell out of me.

That -- that scared
the hell out of me.

You know, what else
has he hurt?

You know, does he hurt any
other animals?

Are you gonna do this to
your brothers?

You know, I'm just like...

because he was jealous
of his brothers.

And so...

now, looking back then,
it was like,

it's one of those signs of,
you know, not good...

that you're abusing animals.

You know, why didn't I raise
him right

not to do something
so...so evil.

I just know he was
a good kid, man.

How the hell did that happen?

How did this happen?

[Tim, Sr.]
I don't know.

As a parent, I think,
you know, I mean, it's my job

to make sure that these kids,

you know, grow up to be good
adults, you know, good people.

You know, I thought I was doing
a good job at that point.

We used to love fishing.
Timmy loved fishing.

His kids loved fishing.

I love fishing.

I mean, we'd go out there
and, spend hours, and...

catch a little fish,
and kids' eyes light up like

it was Fourth of July, you know?
I mean...

they think it's the biggest
thing in the world.

I mean, he was really...
he was a sweet little boy.

I mean, I didn't think there
was ever nothing wrong

with my child, but...

I could imagine if I did,
I still would have thought

that he'd be OK.

Like I said, it all fell apart.

I didn't think it was gonna
happen, but...

you know,
it just -- it happened.

It's not nothing that I really
discuss with anyone.

How do you tell somebody,
you know, that your kid has

k*lled five of
your grandchildren?

I still struggle with it,
and I always will.

[somber piano playing]

This is a picture of Timmy
downstairs in the basement.

It was basically his room.

As you can see, it was a pretty
cool room setup for him.

At one point,
he started begging me for

a computer, but I really
couldn't afford it at the time.

But eventually, I saved enough
money to buy Timmy

a computer for Christmas.

He was just so happy.
I mean, he just cried.

I mean, he was so
happy, he cried.

I talked to a few
of his teachers,

and they explained to me that
they thought Timmy was

a prodigy child.

Timmy would come home with
his report card with just

straight As and, you know,
just make you proud as hell.

And again, you know,
the world is his oyster.

I mean,
I couldn't brag enough.

To me, it seemed like
I was just, you know,

that I was doing
something right.

[clears throat]
But he, uh...

I'd definitely seen that there
was something missing,

and I couldn't tell
what it was.

He just decided that, you know,

he just didn't give
a damn no more.

I wasn't happy about it.

I was just really
concerned about it,

and that's why I said,
"Do you...

what's your backup plan?"

And he's like, "I ain't got
no backup plan."

Timmy didn't care what I said.

He just really didn't --
didn't care.

I mean, he was gonna go
his way, and that was

all there was to it.
He seemed pissed off.

I mean, not just at...

not just at me,
but at the world.

The next few weeks,

he's just becoming unbearable
to live with,

cussing at everybody and just
being mean to everybody,

being mean to his brothers,
my wife.

You know, I tried talking to
him, but he really didn't want

to talk about it.
He just sort of shunned me.

At that point,
that's when me and...

my other boys' mother,
we separated.

So it destroyed that too.

That was the final,
you know, break.

A lot of the things that Timmy
did contributed to the end

of the relationship.

And I was like, "Look, what
the hell's wrong with you, son?"

"There's nothing wrong
with me -- what the hell's
wrong with you?"

And this and that.

And he bumps on my chest,
you know,

and I push him back.

He's like, "You know what?
You can just kiss my a*s.

I'm out of here."

You know,

he decides he's going to go on
his own, you know?

And I'm just feeling like
[bleep], you know,

because, like, damn, maybe
I should have handled that

a little differently
or something, you know?
But...

That's all there is to it.

It makes me feel like a failure
beyond failure.

You know, that I didn't...

I didn't raise the kid,
you know, good enough.

I don't know why I didn't blame
Timmy, but I blamed myself.

I mean, what did I do wrong?

And so, it's like one o'clock
in the morning.

And all of a sudden
I hear something in the kitchen,

like somebody's breaking
in or something.

And I go running in there,
and this person goes

running out the door.

Well, now at this point
I realize it's Timmy.

And so I'm running out
screaming, "Timmy, come back!

You don't have to leave!
Come back, come back!"

You know, "What's wrong?
Is everything OK?"

And then I find out he was
there to get something to eat,

because he's living
in the [bleep] streets.

[shaky exhale] --
that just k*lled me.

Now at this point,
I'm worried like hell.

And so I think, well,

you know, what the hell
am I going to do?

And again,
as a parent,

I felt like
I had let him down so bad.

And, uh...
[clears throat]

...a couple of days go
by, and I don't see or hear

from him.
And then I find out --

I get a call from the police
that they've arrested him.

And when I talked to them,
they were like,

"Well, you know, unless
I paid it, you know,

I would go to jail or him."

I was devastated.

I couldn't believe
he had done that to me.

I mean, I just...

it was demoralizing, not just
to me, but to my whole family,

because, you know,
now everybody knows that all of

a sudden this kid that
I bragged on

for all these years, and now
I'm having to put him in jail.

All those years of...

giving up my life basically to
make sure his life was right,

you know, he just
threw it away.

Well, just,

I blame myself a lot.

I can't seem to get over it.

That's when I started thinking
back, the thing that kept

coming into me is that he was
always jealous of the children.

But he was changing,
and he was changing for

the worse, not the better.

I mean, he was a good, you know,
good, clean kid.

A heartbreaking development
for you now.

Five missing children from
South Carolina have been

found dead in rural Alabama.

The suspected k*ller
is their father,



[Tim, Sr.] I can't believe
it's been 10 years.

You know, thank God for
my wife, Julie.

I mean, she at least...

tries to understand me.

Julie is a wonderful person.
She's got a heart of gold.

I'm not the person
I used to be, by no means.

I can't sleep.

I don't like to be around
people so much.

I stay in my house more than
I ever did before.

I feel like people look at me
as the father of a m*rder*r

and not who I am.
Yeah.

I would probably look at me
the same way.

Well, when Tim got out
of prison, the biggest change

was the religion.

He came out with a whole new
outlook on life that

he was gonna live
by the Bible.

He was like,
"It'll be OK, Dad.

"Trust me, just watch.
I'm going to show you.

"You know, I paid my price,
and I'm gonna go forward now

with my life, and God is
showing me the way."

I mean, he was just so happy,

you know, and I was
happy for him.

I thought for sure,
you know, this should send him

on the right track again.

First time I held Merah Gracie,
it was like holding Timmy

all over again.

I mean, it was just,

it was a great feeling.

And the way that baby
smiled at me, I mean...

I just -- all you do is just
hold her and cry.

I mean, she was just
a little angel.

And, you know, looking at
my son and realizing that,

you know, he's a man now,

I was just proud of him.
And thought, my God,

you know,
that boy's come a long way.

You know, it was just,
it was a good day.

And I'll never forget it.

It was...I mean, one of
the happiest days of my life.

Other than my children
being born.

We were at my house one weekend
and, you know, seemed to be

having a good time.

Tim got a good job with
a big tech company.

He was making good money,
so everything seemed good.

Amber and Julie were
in the back,

you know, with the children.

And I would try to talk to him
about what was going on with

him, about his life,
and he didn't really want to

talk to me about anything.

You know,
but the religion thing,

he wanted to always
talk about.

We clashed a little bit
over it...

because he says, "Amber, she can
not wear nothing but skirts,"

and this and that -- I was
like, "Man, dude, this is

"the 20th century, what the hell
is wrong with you?

I mean, my God, son."

And, of course, I was upset.

And then he would get
mad at me.

One thing led to another,
and he looks at me

and tells me, you know,
"I ought to just beat your a*s."

And I looked right back at him
and said, "OK, now look,

"son, I love you,
but you're my child.

As long as I live, I'll never
let you hit me."

And then...

he looked at me and told me,
you know,

"I could just k*ll you
right now."

The stare he gave me
was something

I'd never seen before.

It was just,

it was a evil look.

To think that my son would say
that to me just devastated me.

I was mad, but I was hurt.

And I was hurt more
than I was mad.

So I'd try to be calm in
the beginning, like,

OK, look, you know...

come on, you know,
just be cool.

But it actually scared
me a little bit.

And he looked at me real hard

and snatched my necklace
off my neck.

And threw it to the ground.

Tim goes and gets
Amber and the kids

and left.

And that day is when I seen
the side of Timmy

that I never knew was there.

That was when I had actually
seen the evil come out of Tim.

I mean, I truly felt like
he was unpredictable.

I mean, I really, like I said,
it scared me.

I knew he was having a little
trouble with his marriage.

After I saw how angry
he got with me, it scared me.

I was questioning to make sure
that, you know, that Timmy was

not hurting no one or
abusing no one.

I'm having Julie looking
at the kids, making sure

they were good, you know?

That they got no bruises
or nothing like that,

and there was nothing unusual.
I mean...

After all this came to head,
what happened,

everything just, like...

[loud smack]

...just hit me, you know,
it was like, holy [bleep].

Why didn't I do something?

Because I knew,
in my heart, I knew.

And I didn't do nothing.

And I'll never
forgive myself for that.

I mean,
I knew, I knew.

When Tim shows up
for holidays,

literally, the minute he shows
up, he's got an attitude.

And I could see it.

He was looking and picking on
someone that night.

I don't know what it was.

But, man, it just seemed to go
south quick.

And I mean quick.
And, man, he flips.

He jumps up.
He said, "You know what?

"I know you always loved them
more than me,

and you can kiss my [bleep] a*s.
I'm out of here."

I'm like, "What's going on?
What are you -- what?"

The thing that kept coming
into me is that he was always

jealous of the children.

"I ain't [bleep] staying here
no more, you son of a b*tch."

And, you know, grabs the kids.

I mean, they were all crying.

I wanted to try to show these
kids the best Christmas I can.

[voice quivering]
Because they're just kids.

And then we do all this
and then Tim to do that,

man, was just devastating.

This is what Timmy's thing was.

When he'd get mad,
he would use these kids
against me.

I just realized that he's not
the person that I knew.

This was someone else.

A [bleep] coward.

A piece of [bleep]
coward.

That would use a kid as a pawn
in your scheme of life?

That's just low.

Why would you hurt the people
that care for these babies,

that you know beyond a shadow
of a doubt that

give their life for them?

He didn't give a [bleep].

[somber piano playing]

Looking at
my three grandbabies,

Nahtahn, Eli, and Merah Gracie.

It was during Eas --
this is an Easter photo.

You look at Nahtahn
and see that,

man, he's like a splittin'
image of Timmy.

And Merah, God...

God, I love her so much.

Right now, she'd be
a young lady.

And Merah, I used to tell
her all the time

that she was going to be
a ballerina.

Because she'd walk around
on her tiptoes

for hours.

It's like, "Baby, don't that
hurt your feet?"

"Nope."

"I'm going to be a ballerina."
OK.

And then Eli,

he was such an emotional
little boy.

He was just so,
always so worried that...

that he had to make
everybody happy.

Oh, my God.

These three little kids
were so sweet,

so innocent.

One weekend, my parents had met
Tim and the kids in Atlanta.

And my dad comes back to me
and says,

"You need to fix
what's going on with Timmy.
Something's wrong."

So I say, "What?"
He says, "Well...

"the kids seemed really hungry.
He shaved all their heads.

"And, son, I slept with
my eyes open.

He scared me."

So literally that evening,
I call.

Because again, he's not
gonna ever do nothing

with me again
until I call and apologize.

And I swore to God I was never
going to do it, you know?

And after my dad
told me this...

I call up and I say,

"Tim, it's your dad."

You know...
and he wasn't rude or crude.

And he's like, "How you doing?"
I was like, "Good.

"I'm calling to apologize.
I'm sorry.

"I didn't mean for whatever
happened or whatever I've done

"to upset you.
I apologize for it.

So please just bury this
and let's go forward, OK?"

He's like, "Yeah, great,
great, you know."

And it's coming up on
Labor Day weekend.

I said, "Maybe you can come
and see us."

He's like, "You know, I'd like
that, that would be nice."

I told Julie and she was just...

happy.

I mean, of course,
you know, everybody knows

what happened after that.

[tense tones play]

Well, the next couple of days,

we don't hear from
Timmy at all.

Now, of course, the worry,

you know, alarms go off.

Like, holy [bleep], you know,
what has he done?

And then I told Julie,
He [bleep] k*lled 'em.

I'm telling you right now,
man, I know it."

"I mean, I know it.

I just feel it with every part
of my body."

The police had called me
and told me that Timmy had been

picked up at a roadblock.

And of course, the first thing
I asked is,

"Where are the children?"

And...

there was no children with him.

And it's...

I just started pu --
[voice breaks].

I was working on my bathroom.

And I just started beating
the hell out of the tile in

the room in the bathroom.
I just...

Because I knew what he did.

I mean, God almighty,
them poor [bleep] kids, man.

Oh, God.
It's just so...

so [bleep] evil I can't even
begin to tell you.

I mean, you've got to be evil
to do something like that.

You can't...
and...

it just destroyed me.

And it still destroys me.

[video audio plays]

[Jones] So that was
with my hands.

You, know, if you believe in God
so god [bleep] much,

why'd you k*ll
your [bleep] kids?

I don't believe a damn word
he's saying, because...

you're going to tell me
you're crying

because you k*lled
your five kids, you didn't cry

when you k*lled
the first one?

How about the second one?

At what point...

do you not say that, "Oh,
my God, what have I done?"

You just continue to go on?

And these children are crying
and telling you,

"Daddy, I love you,
please don't do this?"

I mean, that just rips my heart
out of my chest,

you know, and it's times like
this where if I heard something

like this and had Timmy in
front of me,

I would definitely --
I would k*ll him.

You don't get forgiven for
k*lling five [bleep] babies

by strangling your own [bleep]
children and watching them --

looking in their little eyes.

Well, I'll tell you right now,
if there is a God and they do

forgive him, send me to Hell.

And I [bleep] tell you now,
send me straight to Hell

because I don't want to be
there with him.

[Tim, Sr.] I remember
this photo.

Just wondering how time
went so fast.

I mean, he couldn't have been
more than four or five,

he could do no wrong, you know.

I mean, he was just a sweet,
innocent little boy,

loved me crazy, and this is
about the same time when

he would reach into my pocket
to see what I'd bought him.

Matter of fact, that's probably

what he's eating.

But he was just...
so innocent.

I can't believe it went from
this to what he is now.

The police told me I needed to
come to the police station.

And they're like,
"You know, he won't tell us

where the children are."

And so he's like, "You can go
in there and try and see if

he'll tell you."

They take me upstairs
where they got him in this room,

and, uh...

you know, when he sees me...

he's just looking wild as hell.

I've never seen this boy,
you know, ever.

I mean, I wanted so bad to
reach over and just

punch him out, you know,

and scream and yell
and go crazy on him.

But I knew at the same time
that that wasn't gonna

get the kids.

So I just started asking him,
you know, just like,

"Easy, son, just,
you know, where are

the children at, son?"

And he looks at me, and out of
the clear blue,

he's like, "You know, I could
[bleep] k*ll you right now."

He grabs me
by the throat,

and says, "I could k*ll you."
And...

I said, "Go ahead.

"You can't k*ll me, son.

You know, I love you."

And he just, you know,

started crying real hard
and let go.

It's like I seen...

Timmy the little baby.
When he was little.

Just scared [bleep]less.

Inside, I'm just,
I'm being torn apart.

Telling him, "Look, I still love
you, son, but please, tell us

"where the [bleep] kids are so
we can go and get them.

And, you know, get them home.
Please."

And he looks at me and he's
like, "I'll tell you, Dad.

I'll take you --
I'll take you there."

If he had to go to prison for
k*lling one of his children,

he wasn't gonna leave the rest
of them for anyone else.

He is so greedy that he would
rather k*ll them

than see 'em with me.

And that's how
I've always looked at this.

And I don't think I'll
ever look at it any differently.

Well, I do feel ashamed
because, you know, it's my son.

And, you know, I'm the one
who raised him, so,

you know, you always feel like
part of it's my fault.

You know, I've felt that way
since day one.

I just never thought I'd
release a beast like that

out in society.

I -- I really haven't talked to
my son, or,

you know, I don't write.
You know, I just don't.

My son will be ex*cuted.
It's just a matter of when.

So I figure about four or five
more years, and I have to start

this all over again now by
burying my son.

And that's why I try to tell
people, like,

"You don't understand."
You know what I mean?

This kid wasn't this way.

You know, he just lost it.

You know, I can't tell you why.

I mean, I wish I could.
I would.

But now I'm gonna have to go
through the process

of k*lling him.

You know, nothing I can do.

So deal with that day
when it gets there.

Then at that point,
maybe, maybe...

I can move forward, but
I don't think until he's gone,

I don't think I'll be able to.

Because of me and me alone...

those kids are dead because I
could have stopped it [bleep].

Might have had to k*ll him,
but...

I mean, I knew it.

And to know that your child
took their lives like he did,

it's just so unsettling and so
unforgiving and just...

so atrocious.

You know,
that I raised a [bleep] monster.

That's the bottom line.

You know, all the work I did,
all the time and effort

I put in,

worked my fingers to the bone
for him, this is gonna be

my legacy, that I'm
a m*rder*r-raising piece of
[bleep].

And I have to accept that.

I don't think I'll ever be able
to get over it.

I just don't.

I just learn to accept it,
live with it, and, you know,

go day by day.

Because it's something
that's hard to live with.

And that's just it.

Parenthood is painful.

There are no promises.

Your children may not turn out
the way you want them to.

Nobody prepares you for
when it's the two people

you love most
in the world,

and one kills the other.
What do you do then?