A teenager in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was sentenced to life in prison Monday after confessing to stabbing his parents to death, according to KWWL 7.
Ethan Alexander Orton confessed in February killing his parents in 2021. He has been sentenced to life in prison, serving a minimum of 50 years before being eligible for parole, according to KWWL 7. Orton also must pay $150,000 in restitution.
Orton pled guilty to two counts of first-degree murder for the death of his father, Casey Orton, and mother, Misty Scott-Slade at their home. (RELATED: Jury Convicts Mother Of Starving Her Son To Death With Diet)
Police reported that when Orton left the apartment after the homicide, he was dripping with blood, KCRG 9 reported.
Ethan Orton, the teenager who confessed in court in February to killing his parents in 2021, has been sentenced to life in prison, and must serve a minimum sentence of 50 years before he is eligible for parole. https://t.co/rJwtQIsNHJ
— KWWL (@KWWL) June 5, 2023
Seventeen years old at the time, Orton admitted to the police that in October 2021 he stabbed to death both his parents and then used an axe against Scott-Slade after she survived the stabbing, according to the outlet. Orton told the officers at the scene of the crime that he killed them “to take charge of his life.”
“I even said I’d give my left arm just to get both of them back,” Orton said, according to KWWL 7. “See what I could do. But, I had to come to a realization that this is what it is today and thankfully I’ve made peace with that.”
Orton said that his grandmother and sister forgave him on the day of the murders, according to KWWL 7. Those relatives did not appear in court Monday.