The former actor reportedly also considered ‘an act of mass violence’
Following the shocking news of Ryan Grantham’s case back in 2020, it has now come to light that the Riverdale actor killed his mother in order to prevent her from discovering another murder plot against Canadian PM, Justin Trudeau.
The 24-year-old from British Columbia, Canada, had his sentencing hearing on Wednesday, June 15, during which he confessed that he committed matricide in order “to save” his mother from discovering his plans to assassinate the Canadian Prime Minister.
As the jury heard in B.C. Supreme Court, the Supernatural and iZombie star shot his mother Barbara Waite, 64, in the back of the head while she played the piano in their Squamish townhouse on March 31, 2020, recording a GoPro video approaching her on multiple occasions and showing her body after committing crime.
The day after, while her body still lay in a pool of blood and covered with a sheet, he loaded his car with three guns, ammunition, 12 Molotov cocktails, camping supplies and a printed Google map with directions to Trudeau’s Rideau Cottage residence in Ottawa, CBC News reports.
Then 22, Grantham ultimately decided to turn himself in, confessing “I killed my mother” not only in a statement to the police but in his private journals and a video message detailing how he “shot her in the back of the head”, adding “in the moments after, she would have known it was me.”
The video was played to the court and as well as excerpts from his journals which also contained details regarding the abandoned assassination plot.
Grantham was also reported to have hung a rosary from the piano and arranged lit candles around his mother’s body before setting off for the Canadian PM’s home. He drove as far as Hope, B.C. before turning around and planning to commit an act of mass violence at Simon Fraser University, where he studied, as well other locations – according to reports.
Ultimately, he turned himself into Vancouver police later that night and cited struggles at school, feelings of depression and paranoia; a cannabis problem, suicidal thoughts and, eventually, guilt over his mother his murder.
Pleading guilty to second-degree murder on March 9, 2022, the former actor is guaranteed a minimum 10 years in prison; the maximum period for this charge is 25 years but the crown court is asking for 17 to 18 years until he is eligible for parole.
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