Teen on trial for murder was 'relieved' to admit to brutally killing his grandparents, detective says
- Isaiah Sweet had been tweeting cryptic posts across the weekend
- Charged with two counts of first-degree murder
- Lawyers claims murder was not premeditated
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An Iowa teenager who shot dead both of his grandparents was 'relieved' to admit to the brutal killings, a detective testified at his trial today.
Isaiah Sweet was 17 when he shot dead 55-year-old Richard Sweet and 62-year-old Janet Sweet just before Mother's Day in May 2012 at the family's home in Hartford, Iowa.
His defense attorneys don't dispute that he was the one who killed the Sweets, who raised him, but they argue that the act was not premeditated - and so he is therefore not guilty of first-degree murder, the harshest charge under the law.
But Manchester police Sergeant James Hauschild said Isaiah, now 18, admitted that he planned to kill his grandfather with a baseball bat. Instead, he shot Mr Sweet in the back of the head.
Confessed: Isaiah Sweet's lawyers aren't disputing that he killed his grandparents - they are arguing that it was not premeditated murder
In chains: Sheriff officers lead a shackled Isaiah Sweet into the Clayton County Courthouse yesterday for his first appearance. He is being held on $1million bond
The teen also said that he needed to 'pay for what he did,' according to a video-taped interview.
Iowa State Patrol trooper Jon Stickney testified about finding Mr Sweet's body.
'His brain was falling out of his head. You don’t forget a sight like that,' the veteran trooper said.
Brandon Ahlers, 21, Isaiah's friend who pleaded guilty to being an accomplice in the murder, testified that Isaiah texted him the day before the killing to ask him about methods for killing someone.
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ShareA search of Isaiah's computer also revealed that he had made online searches for how to kill a person in a way that 'wasn't too messy' and 'didn't cause pain.'
Among the options Isaiah allegedly explored were poisoning his grandparents, beating them with a bat and shooting them.
They were both found slumped dead on their couch, shot in the head.
Rick and Janet Sweet were found slumped on their couch dead last May. Their grandson admitted to shooting them both in the head
Police captured Isaiah Sweet, 17, from Iowa, in Cedar Rapids after a short chase the day after the killing.
After killings, the teen used his Twitter page to post a number of cryptic messages which police believe are about the murders.
They included: 'Time to live my life', 'I'm f***ed up, torn down, I'm twisted, doorknob', and 'My phone is as big as hell right now'.
Isaiah Sweet is charged with two counts of first-degree murder.
After he was arrested the tweets continued on his alleged Twitter page, where he uses the pseudonym Isweet37.
They said: 'You drunk c*** f***ing snitch', 'Damn. Cant wait to get outa the cop shop' and 'All youve done the past 30 minutes is sit in a corner and text? #Retardcop'.
A close friend told The Des Moines Register that the teen hated his grandparents and would often say he wanted to kill them. She described their relationship as 'contentious'.
Jade Offerman said: 'He never got along with his grandparents. He absolutely — he hated them. Sometimes he tried to get along as best as he could with them just to make his life easier.'
Deadly weapon: A detectives shows off the Soviet-style rifle that Isaiah Sweet used to kill his grandparents
ISAIAH SWEET'S TWEETS
Friday 11 May
10.04am: 'I'm f***ed up, torn down, I'm twisted, doorknob'
4.06pm: 'No apologies, no excuses'
Saturday 12 May
2:10am: 'Time to live my life'
7:12pm: 'Man my phone is about big as hell right now'
Sunday 13 May
8am: 'Damn. Can't wait to get outa the cop shop #6unnessecaryhours'
8.05am: 'All you've done the past 30 minutes is sit in a corner and text? #retardcop'
8.10am: 'Okay that scared me'
9.01am: 'You drunk c*** f***ing snitch'
Miss Offerman said she dated Sweet on-and-off last fall, and they remained friends after breaking up.
She said the believed the grandparents, particularly the grandfather, were sometimes strict with the teen but didn't believe anything he said about wanting to kill them.
'I never took him seriously. He’d be like, "I hate them so much. I’m going to kill them". But obviously you hate your parents sometimes and you say stuff like that,' she said.
'Nobody takes you seriously.'
Before the killings, Sweet drove Miss Offerman and some friends to a party at an apartment in downtown Iowa City in a truck which is believed to have belonged to the elderly couple.
One of the passengers, Kelli Fisher, 19, said Sweet had drugs in the vehicle including marijuana and prescription painkillers.
The labels were scratched off on the bottles, said Miss Fisher, and she noticed he was 'visibly shaking' and carrying a knife.
She told The Des Moines Register: 'He showed us a knife that he had just bought, which was really weird…It was smaller, but it had very, very jaggedly edges.'
Miss Offerman said Sweet called her on Sunday and acted very strange and secretive but said it sounded like a goodbye call after he said to her: 'I love you. I miss you. You’re never going to see me again.'
The accused murderer allegedly told at least three people that he had drugged his grandparents and killed them, according to court records.
Richard and Janet Sweet were said to be facing financial difficulties and Mr sweet faced a first-degree theft charge for allegedly taking $10,000 from the trust for Marie Ann Sweet, his mother.
Court records show Janet Sweet was served an eviction case dated July 2011. In December, Janet Sweet filed a child-support case against Stacy Sweet, Isaiah Sweet’s mother.
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