Texas Boy Admits to Killing Sleeping Stranger at Grandfather's RV Park When He Was Just 7

The child, now 10, won't face any charges for the murder -- which he detailed to police more than two years after it happened, as the victim's family reacts to killer's identity with "shock."

A 10-year-old boy is off the hook for allegedly killing a random stranger as he slept when he was just a 7-year-old child.

The wild story comes from the Gonzales County Sheriff's Office in Texas, which provided a big update on the death of 32-year-old Brandon O'Quinn Rasberry more than two years after he was found dead in his RV on January 18, 2022.

According to authorities, the Sheriff's Office responded to the Lazy J RV Park, after the owner did a welfare check on Rasberry when his place of employment called saying he hadn't been to work in two days. The owner of the park found Rasberry, who had been shot in the head once, dead; his death was ruled a murder.

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An investigation revealed Rasberry had been dead for about two days before his body was discovered -- and he had moved into the RV park just days before he was killed. The case went cold, however, when several warrants and witness interviews didn't lead anywhere.

Things then took a turn earlier this month, after a 10-year-old boy -- whose name hasn't been released -- allegedly threatened to "assault and kill" another student. The case was referred to the Sheriff's department and a deputy who interviewed school officials said the boy "made a statement that he shot and killed a man two years ago." That's when deputies started to believe there was a link between the boy and Rasberry's murder.

He was then taken to a child advocacy center and interviewed; it's there he allegedly "described in detail that two years ago he shot and killed a man in a trailer in Nixon, Texas." The child reportedly said he was visiting his grandfather, who lived a few lots from Rasberry's RV, in January 2022, when he stole his grandfather's pistol and entered the victim's RV while he was sleeping.

"The Child stated he observed Brandon sleeping in his bed and approached Brandon and discharged the firearm into Brandon striking him one time in the head," said authorities. "The child stated as he was leaving the RV he discharged the firearm another time into the couch inside the RV. The child then exited the RV and returned the firearm to the glovebox of the truck."

The information provided was consistent with Rasberry's murder

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The boy went on to say he didn't know the victim and had only seen him in the RV park earlier in the day, before killing him. "The child was also asked if he was mad at Brandon for some reason or if Brandon had ever done anything to him to make him mad, the child stated no," said the Sheriff.

The gun used in the crime was later found at a pawn shop, with ballistic evidence from the scene coming up as a match.

The boy was placed on a 72-hour hold, before being transported to a psychiatric hospital for "evaluation and treatment," said authorities. He was then booked on charges of Terroristic Threat by the Gonzales County Sheriff's Office for the bus incident and is in detention awaiting a court date.

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While he is facing charges for the bus incident, which happened when he was 10, he's not being charged in connection to the murder.

"Because of the child's age, Texas Penal Code 8.07 states that a child does not have criminal culpability until they reach the age of ten years old.  At the time of the murder the juvenile suspect was seven years old, one week shy of his 8th birthday. Therefore charges for murder will not be filed and cannot be accepted by the Gonzales County Attorney's Office for consideration of prosecution in accordance with state law," explained the Sheriff.

Speaking with KSAT , the victim's father, Kenneth Rasberry, said he was "shocked, very shocked" to learn the identity of his son's killer. "This isn't anywhere the suspect that we thought it was," he added.

"This is a little boy, for reasons that I'm sure these counselors and case managers and all of that, that's going to pick that poor little boy's brain apart," he continued. "[The boy] needs to be prayed on. He needs to be comforted ... He's forgiven. And he can still be saved. He's so young. He's definitely tormented by something."

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