RYKER PETERSEN - 5 months/ Convicted: Father; Joshua Petersen - American Fork UT

'It drove him to insanity': Father 'kills infant son with gunshot to the head days after the child's mother left him'

By Peter Rugg
PUBLISHED: 09:43 EST, 8 April 2013
UPDATED: 11:54 EST, 8 April 2013

Utah father Joshua Petersen is under arrest after allegedly murdering his infant son in what was to have been the first step in a horrific murder suicide just days after the child's mother left him.

Petersen, 21, allegedly shot his 5-month-old son, Ryker Petersen, Friday afternoon at his home in American Fork.

Investigators said he laid Ryker down on the couch, walked to the other room where he loaded a single .22 round into his rifle, then returned to fire the shot into his baby's head.
A relative stopped him before he could turn the gun on himself.

Ryker was pronounced dead at a Salt Lake City hospital, the Salt Lake Tribune reported.
Police arrested Petersen and booked him into Utah County Jail on suspicion of aggravated murder, which is a first-degree felony.

He has cooperated with investigators since his arrest, said Sgt. Greg Ludlow, who said the motive was still uncertain but that Petersen may have been planning the shooting for up to a month.

In a statement issued late Saturday, the family said Ryker's mother, Amanda Merrill Pilling, was heartbroken.

'Her sweet baby Ryker was a treasure and she misses him immensely,' read the statement, written by family spokesman and Amanda's brother, Milo Merrill.

'Our hearts go out to all of you who are suffering for the loss of baby Ryker, including the father’s family. We cannot imagine how hard this must be for you and we send our love and support to you.'

Pilling's family asked that people trust God alone to judge what happened, even though it was 'easy to jump to conclusions and judgement when a tragedy like this occurs.'
They also thanked all those who had reached out to them.

'We will not let this sadness consume us,' they said.

In an interview with the Desert News, Ryker's grandmother, Tawnya Judd, said that Pilling had broken up with Petersen on Tuesday.

'She finally kicked him out,' Judd said. 'She said, 'Mom, you'll be proud of me. I finally told him I'm never going back.''

She belies the split with Petersen, who she characterized as abusive, may have driven him to 'insanity.'

'Once a controlling person loses control how do they get back control? They take the thing that matters most,' Judd said. 'I can't even begin to think what might have possessed him to do this. That's what it feels like to me, to hurt her.'

Pilling was coping with the pain as well as possible, Judd said, but not ready to speak publicly about the tragedy.

'She's doing pretty good,' Judd said. 'We've been talking about funeral services.'

They also needed to tell Ryker's brothers.

The two boys, Preston, 5, and Aiden, 7, have a different father who died several years ago under circumstances Judd declined to discuss other than to note that the boys were in therapy.

Judd said she worried that Petersen would 'roughhouse a little too hard,' with the older boys, often dropping them on the couch from over his head or tossing them so high they'd hit the ceiling.

She did not see him treat Ryker that way.

'I really never seen him interact with his son,' she said. 'I know he held him a lot and he cared for him. He definitely was better to him.'

She claimed the roughhousing with the older boys began when Pilling was pregnant with Ryker.

Judd lives near Ryker's home.

When she heard there had been an incident in the neighborhood involving a baby she immediately assumed Petersen was involved.

'First, denial,' she said. 'But I knew it was true. I knew just from the description and the address. I knew it was him.'

Judd described Pilling, her stepdaughter, as a 'good mom.'
'She's a wonderful mom,' she said. 'She's a very doting, wonderful mom,'

She also said Pilling supported Petersen for much of the relationship and further described her as a loving 'give-the-shirt-off-her-back kind of person.'

But Judd never cared for Petersen.

'I didn't like him from the very beginning,' she said. 'But we're moms, OK? Nobody is ever going to be good enough for our kids.'

Petersen's aunt, Staci Zufelt, said he had fought depression all his life.

'He had trouble in school,' she said. 'He was just kind of a loner.'

When Ryker was born in late October, she said it was a source of happiness for him.

'He really loved his son,' she said.

Petersen's Facebook page is filled with posts that seem to reference only sad days or moments of happiness with Ryker.

On March 27 Petersen wrote: 'its a sad day but not when i have my son he makes me happy.'

A candlelight vigil was held for Ryker Sunday evening outside his mother's home, KUTV reported.

Roughly three dozen friends and family offered hugs and prayers that the family be comforted.

Dozens of stuffed animals were left behind for Ryker's brothers along with a condolence book filled with signatures.

Pilling did not attend, but five of her brothers were there along with Petersen's grandparents.

'We talked and hugged and it was great,' Merrill said.

Merrill stressed that they were praying for the Petersen family as well, knowing it was a difficult time for everyone.

Funeral services will be held Wednesday.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2305769/Utah-father-Joshua-Petersen-kills-infant-son-gunshot-head-childs-mother-left-him.html#ixzz2iT71slvK

Young dad will never be paroled for shooting death of 5-month-old son
'There's still hope,' judge says after imposing life without parole sentence

By Whitney Evans, Deseret News
Published: Monday, Oct. 21 2013 5:48 p.m. MDT
Updated: 16 hours ago

PROVO — Judge Darold McDade said the decision he announced on Monday had been weighing heavily on his mind for a "long, long time."

His pronouncement regarded the fate of a young depressed father who killed his 5-month-old son earlier this year by shooting him in the head with a .22-caliber rifle.

Ryker Petersen would have turned 1 year old on Wednesday.

McDade decided that Joshua David Peterson, 22, will serve the rest of his life in prison. He will have no possibility of ever being paroled.

The judge said he realized Petersen is young and does not have a criminal history. But he expressed concern that if he was released, he may hurt others.

"Regardless of the situation, there's still hope. I want you to know that," McDade told Petersen.

Members of Petersen's family sat inches away from Amanda Merrill Pilling, Ryker's mom, and her family. Members of both families sobbed throughout the hearing.

"We love the Merrill family. They've been Christlike to us," Josh Petersen's grandmother, Pam Thompson, said after the sentencing.

"He was a good boy," she said of her grandson.

Prosecutor Craig Johnson spoke with Thompson before she left, apologizing for her loss and assuring her that the life-without-parole sentence was not "vindictive."

He later said the sentence was the best possible decision for the interests of the family and the community and allows them to leave "ghosts" in the past.

A woman who only identified herself as Petersen's aunt said her nephew wore an emotional backpack that was filled with bricks labeled "stupid," "not good enough," and "failure." School was difficult for him, and when he dropped out, more bricks saying "quitter" and "loser" were added.

Ryker's birth marked a change in Petersen, she said after Monday's hearing. Some weight lifted from his shoulders and a light inside him returned.

"In his mind, Josh had finally gotten something right," she said.

Petersen pleaded guilty last month to aggravated murder, a first-degree felony. Both the prosecution and defense agreed to recommend a sentence of life without parole.

During the hearing, Tammy Petersen asked McDade to give her son a less harsh penalty than was recommended. Using her son "to set a precedent" would not stop bad things from happening to others, she said.

"The man he is now is not the man he was on April 5," she said, referring to the day of the shooting. Josh Petersen squeezed his eyes shut and bowed his head in emotion as his mother spoke.

She described her son as a "shy, yet friendly young man" whose depression steadily worsened. Family members noticed, but "in no way did we understand the extreme depression he was in."

He stopped eating and began having nightmares that made their way into his daily thoughts, she said. She recalled a commercial for anti-depression medication that said, "Depression hurts."

"All of us can attest to that. Depression is a horrible disorder," Tammy Petersen said.

After Petersen shot his young son in the head at his American Fork home, he then tried to kill himself but family members stopped him. Ryker did not die immediately. After the shooting, Petersen called his grandmother who came to assist, and she called authorities.

Petersen had just broken up with Pilling, according to his family. He told police he had been planning to kill his son for about a month.

"We lost two that day. Our family will never be the same. This tragedy has brought my family a great loss and the pain is horrific," she said.

Petersen apologized for the death of his young son and said if he could, he would change what he did that day.

"I loved that boy," he told the judge.

Family members hugged each other and sobbed after the hearing.

Petersen's aunt said that she believes in her nephew's goodness and kindness, regardless of what others may say.

"I know that he has a Father in heaven who loves him more than (Josh) ever loved his son," she said.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865588841/Young-dad-will-never-be-paroled-for-shooting-death-of-5-month-old-son.html