Stephen Hammer (left) and Tanner Vanpelt who was arrested for fatally killing three members of a family in a home in the tiny northwestern Wyoming town of Clark / AP Photo/Park County Sheriff's Office
Posted on 03/05/2013 12:15:02 PM PST by Red Badger
CODY, Wyo. - Two teenage boys charged in a triple homicide in a small Wyoming town told investigators they stole handguns from a gun store and wanted to steal a black Audi SUV so they could escape to Denver.
Stephen Hammer, 19, and 18-year-old Tanner Vanpelt made their first court appearance Tuesday morning in a case that rattled residents of the small town of Clark, near the Wyoming-Montana border.
Each teen is charged with 11 felony counts, including premeditated murder, use of a deadly weapon and robbery. Some of the charges could carry the death penalty.
Circuit Court Judge Bruce Waters ordered the two teens held without bond, at the urging of prosecutors who noted the severity of the charges.
Hammer and Vanpelt were arrested after neighbors described two men entering a house Saturday where the victim's bodies were found. The neighbors saw two vehicles speeding away, including a black Audi belonging to 40-year-old Ildiko Freitas, who owned the house with her husband. Freitas and her parents, 69-year-old Janos Volgyesi and 70-year-old Hildegard Volgyesi, were found dead inside the house.
According to court documents filed Tuesday, Hammer told investigators upon their arrest that they used two 9 mm handguns they stole last week from a Cody gun store and went to the house to steal the Audi and leave the state.
Vanpelt got into an argument with Freitas over the car and that's when he pulled out a gun and shot her, according to the documents. Hammer then went into the basement after hearing something there and shot a woman he encountered, Freitas' mother, Hildegard Volgyesi. Vanpelt told authorities he also went downstairs and shot the woman twice because it appeared she wasn't dead.
When Vanpelt was taking the Audi, the two young men encountered Freitas' father, Janos Volgyesi, in the garage and Vanpelt shot him twice in the back, the documents state.
After their arrest, Hammer and Vanpelt led investigators to an irrigation pipe several miles from the shooting scene where they hid the two 9 mm handguns.
It's unclear how the teens knew about the Audi. Residents of Clark said Hammer used to live with his family in town but had moved away several years ago.
Hammer told investigators he was "sorry for shooting `that lady,'" according to the documents. Vanpelt said "they had not planned it to go down this way."
Freitas grew up in Bakersfield, Calif., and attended the University of Wyoming before moving to Clark with her husband six or seven years ago. Last year, the couple bought another house in Loveland, Colo., which they were renovating and planning to move into sometime soon, said neighbor David Mathiesen.
Vanpelt's father, Robb Vanpelt, said Monday that his son was not living with him and had not been in serious trouble before his arrest, which was "pretty much totally out of the blue."
Tanner Vanpelt graduated in December 2011 from Cody High School, where principal Brandon Jensen recalled that the teenager wasn't involved in athletics or after-school clubs, but also never had serious discipline issues.
Hammer attended the school only a year before transferring during his freshman year, Jensen said.
Residents of Clark said it's the first murders they can recall in decades in the rural community dominated by agriculture that sits near the Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone River.
FULL TITLE:
Wyoming Triple Murder: Teens charged in triple homicide stole handguns and wanted to escape the state, report says
But Mom said they were good little boys until they got the guns.
It had to be the guns.
If Larry McMurtry weren’t 76 years old and wrapping up his writing career, he’d write a novel about this one.
A few days before he was executed Ted Bundy's mother was telling an interviewer what a good boy her son was.
Um... dudes... 19 and 18 are adults.
Why do you need to “escape” when you could just go?
Bet they get for being “retarded,” “abused,” or something.
Gee. Well maybe we should make it illegal to steal guns!!!
(Sarcasm)
Stephen Hammer (left) and Tanner Vanpelt who was arrested for fatally killing three members of a family in a home in the tiny northwestern Wyoming town of Clark / AP Photo/Park County Sheriff's Office
They should pass a law making theft of handguns illegal
Where was the husband at the time his wife and in-laws were killed? How can you write a story like this and leave that out? If only to say “Authorities have not indicated the whereabouts of Mr. Freitas at the time of the killings.” Journalism 101 FAIL.
After years of abuse, Vanpelt finally snapped. Neighbors who knew the emasculated teen stated that his mother, Lucy, would force him to attempt to kick a football over and over, but would pull the ball away at the last instant and laugh. "It is particularly humiliating...", said one neighbor who wished to remain known only as 'Chuck'. "..and she was merciless."
The local paper (Cody Enterprise) indicated that he was out of town on a worksite.
MOD Mandatory Organ Donor.
If Larry McMurtry weren’t 76 years old and wrapping up his writing career, he’d write a novel about this one.
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No worries. His son James can write a song about them.
James is a pretty fair writer himself.
As Dean Martin said in ROUGH NIGHT IN JERICO....”We’ll hang them right after the trial”.
or as Judge Roy Bean used to say, “We’ll give ‘em a fair trial, and then we’ll hang ‘em.”.........
I’ll bet these punks would look good dancing the Tyburn Jig.
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