Authorities in Texas say a 10-year-old boy has confessed to an unsolved 2022 killing, telling investigators that he shot a man he did not know while the victim slept.

Brandon O’Quinn Rasberry, 32, was shot in the head in 2022 while he slept at an RV park in Nixon, Texas, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) east of San Antonio, investigators said. He had just moved in a few days before.

The boy’s possible connection to the case was uncovered after sheriff’s deputies were contacted on April 12 of this year about a student who threatened to assault and kill another student on a school bus. They learned the boy had made previous statements that he had killed someone two years ago.

The boy was taken to a child advocacy center, where he described for interviewers details of Rasberry’s death “consistent with first-hand knowledge” of the crime, investigators said.

  • Echo Dot
    28•8 months ago

    It says he was taken to a child advocacy center. Whatever that is

    I assume it was done properly though, messing up a murder investigation when it’s basically a slam dunk would be pretty damning if it turns out they mishandled it.

    • @acetanilide
      24•8 months ago

      A child advocacy center has specially trained staff (therapists) who do forensic interviews and provide therapy, mainly to kids enduring the aftermath of abuse and neglect. They work closely with the police and the prosecutor to get the case resolved and many also provide therapy dogs to go to court with the kids.

      I haven’t heard of them interviewing a kid suspected of a crime but perhaps it is their protocol for a kid this young.