"Call of Duty" video game
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The jury in the murder trial of an Iowa teenager heard on Wednesday a disturbing 911 call in which the 13-year-old suspect admitted to killing his own mother after a failed attempt to rape her.
Crooks, who is now 14, was charged with first-degree murder and assault with intent to commit sexual abuse in the March 24, 2012, slaying of his mother, 37-year-old Gretchen Crooks.
In the 911 recording made on the night of the murder at the family's Osage home, Noah Crooks could be heard telling dispatcher Barb Michael: 'I’m not joking at all. She’s dead. I’m scared. I killed my mom with my .22. I don’t know why I did it.'
During the conversation, which lasted about 10 minutes, the boy repeated his confession several times The Global Gazette reported.
'I feel crazy and I know I'm not. I think I have some form of ADD,' Crooks told the 911 operator. 'I tried to rape her. I tried to rape her but I couldn't do it.
'Who tries to rape their own mom? My life is down the drain now.'
As Michael placed a call to deputies and sent an ambulance to the Crooks' home, Noah told him that his weapon is empty and appeared concerned that the officers might shoot him.
'I just wish it was a dream so I could wake up and I could kiss her and hug her,' then-13-year-old Crooks said.
Noah rambled on about his mother making him homemade doughnuts earlier that night and expressed disbelief that he killed her after she did that for him.
He then revealed that Gretchen Crooks had taken away his 'Call of Duty' video game because he got bad grades in school, and that is when he snapped.
'Something just came over me,' he told the dispatcher.
The boy droned on about having to move away and giving up on his dreams of getting into a good college and marrying his eighth-grade girlfriend.
On the first day of Crooks' trial Wednesday, jurors also heard testimony from Mitchell County Sheriff’s Deputies Jeff Huftalin and Greg Halbach, who described the crime scene at 3599 Cameo Avenue, WCF Courier reported.
Gretchen Crooks' bullet-riddled body was found stretched out on a coach. Her pajama top was undone and she was naked from the waist down, Halbach said in court. The woman was not breathing.
The deputies seized the murder weapon, a .22 caliber rifle, which was lying across a chair in the dining room.
Halbach said that he slapped handcuffs on Noah's wrists and placed him in the patrol car. He added that the teenage suspect was not crying and did not appear emotional.
Noah Crooks' attorney is not denying that his client killed his mother, but he claims that the boy suffered what he referred to as a 'tumor of rage, ‘rendering him insane at the time of the slaying.
Addressing the jury panel, the lawyer said that a child psychiatrist will testify that Crooks suffers from intermittent explosive disorder - a mental illness marked by repeated episodes of impulsive, aggressive or violent behavior.
On Friday, Noah's father, William Crooks, 41, testified that on the day of his wife's murder, he was at a going-away party for his boss when he got a text message from his son that read: 'Dad this is Noah. I killed Mom accidentally, I regret it. Come home now please.'
Crooks was certain that his son was kidding and responded in kind: 'OK. Just throw her in the grove. We'll take care of her later.'
About 20 minutes later, a sheriff's deputy called Mr Crooks and told him that he needed to come home because an accident had taken place.
Crooks pulled up to the house at around 8.20pm on March 24. In court Friday, he described the scene inside his home as 'chaos.'
The father explained o the jury that his was was the disciplinarian in the family, and had a stormy but loving relationship with their son.
Mr Crooks added that the mother and son would fight often, but later make up and play games together. She was the one who bought the .22 caliber Ruger as a present for Noah in 2010 when he was about 11 years old.
The father said that his son did once say that he wanted to kill his mother, but he didn't take the threat seriously.
There was no history of domestic abuse or criminal records associated with any Crooks family members.
On March 24, 2012, Crooks is believed to have fired a .22 caliber at his mother at their rural home. The teen was said to be calm and emotionless when he called 911 reporting the shooting.
'The emotions of the young man, from what I've been told, is his demeanor was very calm and kind of stoic. Almost like he was in shock also,' Deputy Greg Beaver told KTTC at the time.
Mitchell County Sheriff Curt Younker told the DesMoines Register: 'We’re at a loss. These are good people, very responsible. It is the most heartbreaking thing I’ve ever seen.'
'We have lost our daughter. We have lost our grandson,' Mrs Crooks' mother Beverly Brahm of Mason City told the Albert Lea Tribune.
Mrs Crooks, who was listed with her husband William Crooks as the rural Osage property owners, had worked as a nurse at Mercy Medical Center-North Iowa while also studying toward her master's degree after accepted at the University of Iowa in 2009.
On her Facebook page back in 2010, she praised her son, one of two sons according to Mrs Brahm, for his musical talents on the saxophone as well as his accomplishment in being accepted into a University of Iowa camp to learn Chinese.
'So proud of him!' she wrote.
She had also recently published an application on her page reading: 'Click "like" if you love your son!'
Mrs Crooks' death comes as the first reported murder in the city of Osage since 1898, according to KAAL-TV.
Speaking of her daughter with pride, her mother, whom she relishes knowing she was able to say 'I love you' to earlier in the day of her passing, described the 37-year-old as studying 'full time, while she was working full time,' according to the Courier.
Wanting to make a difference wherever she could, Mrs Crooks previously served among a team of doctors and nurses who traveled to provide medical relief to the Hurricane Katrina and Rita victims in the Gulf in 2005.
Serving as a critical care nurse, she cared for patients in a makeshift hospital.
William Crooks' Facebook page shows his interest in the US Concealed Carry association as well as the Springfield Armory, a company that sells pistols and rifles.
'Gretchen was a great nurse and leader. We, as members of her Mercy family, continue to mourn for her and will be holding a memorial service. Our hearts and prayers go out to her family and friends.
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