Grand jury indicts 17-year-old

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February 17, 2009

Teen accused of murdering his father

By BURTON SPEAKMAN The Glasgow Daily Times Tue Feb 17, 2009, 12:21 PM CST

GLASGOW — A 17-year-old Edmonton teenager is being arraigned today after being accused of killing his father in October 2008.

Robert Joshua Fritz, 240 Neeper Road, is charged with first-degree murder, unlawful imprisonment, tampering with physical evidence and third-degree terroristic threatening relating to the death of 54-year-old Robert H. Fritz on Oct. 15 or 16 at their home.

The case had moved through juvenile court proceedings and on Feb. 4 a Metcalfe County grand jury chose to charge Robert J. Fritz as an adult. The bond for Fritz was set at $100,000, according to the indictment. At the time of the incident he was a student at Metcalfe County High School.

The initial call about the incident came on Oct. 16, 2008, when the Edmonton Police Department received a call from an woman in Indiana who stated her mother Jeanie K. Stewart, 43, was being held hostage by a 17-year-old boy who had beaten his father to death, according to a state police report.

Kentucky State Police troopers and deputies from the Metcalfe County Sheriff’s Office arrived at the Neeper Road residence and observed Robert J. Fritz removing a body from the back door of the home, according to the report. Stewart was found inside the home and had not been harmed. A baseball bat was removed from the residence as evidence.

During the time when Stewart was inside the home with Robert J. Fritz, he had allegedly threatened to kill her, according to the initial complaint from state police.

The reports have never listed any sort of motive for why Robert J. Fritz might have killed his father.

Stewart was living at the home, after Robert H. Fritz had allowed her to move in when the woman’s home was destroyed, said Karen Davis, commonwealth’s attorney for Barren and Metcalfe counties. Stewart was simply a friend of the family.

Robert J. Fritz was represented during his juvenile proceedings by the Kentucky Department of Public Advocacy, Davis said. It is believed they will continue to represent him.

Since the initial incident Robert J. Fritz has remained in custody at Adair County Youth Development Center.

Davis stated she had no further comments about the case.

There are certain criteria that must be met in order for a juvenile to be tried as an adult, such as whether a firearm was used in the commission of the offense, whether the crime was against a person or property and whether the juvenile has a prior criminal history. This is the second case from 2008 locally where a juvenile is being accused of killing his father. Jared A. Upton, 17, of Smiths Grove, is accused of shooting his father on Oct. 31 at their home at 13262 Old Bowling Green Road.

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