Boy kills mother over PlayStation

By Jeffrey Van Camp February 16, 2011

Limiting video game time has long been a powerful tool for parents. If the kids want to play games then they must do their homework; if they’re bad, then away goes the Nintendo. Well, it may not be a good idea if your kids are crazy. According to a report from The Inquirer, Rashida Anderson was murdered by her son after she took away his PlayStation privileges last November.

On the day after Thanksgiving, Anderson and her 16-year-old son Kendall got into an argument for about an hour and a half, after she took away his PlayStation. After that, he paced around his home for about three hours, finally entering his mother’s room and bludgeoning her 20 times with a claw hammer. After that did not kill her, the boy dragged her body downstairs and tried to “cremate her” in the kitchen oven. This effort also failed, at which point he beat her in the head with a chair leg and dragged her body outside. He hid it under debris in an alley behind the house.

The boy later confessed to Philadelphia police homicide Det. Thorsten Lucke, who read his statement to a Philadelphia Municipal Court judge the other day.

“I couldn’t stand the arguing,” the boy said in a statement. “If I could, I would not do it again. I really miss my mom…she was the only person who cared for me.”

His sentence has not been announced.

Sadly, this is not the first murder over video games. Years back, a boy killed his parents after they took Halo away from him.

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Jeffrey Van Camp

Former Digital Trends Contributor

As DT's Deputy Editor, Jeff helps oversee editorial operations at Digital Trends. Previously, he ran the site's…

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