Confession Of A Child Killer

They hung out at the skate rink and Courtney's school. I knew my mom was going to die.... We were talking about committing suicide, and I guess I kind of retaliated. Hittmeier scoped out the Weinberger home, then prepared a search warrant. Sensing that something was seriously wrong, Rinek tried to reach him by phone the next day. His friends dismissed his behavior as a response to his mother's death.

Justin's assertions, he said, were those of a "troubled and desperate young man" who was angry that "his father had not come to his aid following disclosure of Justin's involvement in the Courtney Sconce homicide. He knew computers well enough to fix them, and he once sold software through a telemarketing company. Both parents loved him. Without a doubt he's my best friend.

FBI officials say it may be the first time that a child-porn search prompted such a tragedy, and the murder left veteran agents agonizing over their handling of the case and wondering how they might better predict when a suspect will act on his impulses. One was a lanky, clean-cut college dropout and computer buff who had saved newspaper clippings about the murder. He stayed away for three months and then quit. But, feeling lonely, he picked up two male hitchhikers.

"The signs that we are trained to look for were not there, " he says, noting that Justin had virtually no criminal record. "I guess I feel a little like I missed something, " Hittmeier says. They picked through Courtney's belongings for overlooked clues. But he began acting recklessly. During his confession, Weinberger painted a twisted backdrop for his crimes, blaming others without excusing himself. I decided to exaggerate slightly and add a fictional detail, just to make it more 'juicy'... a detail I thought was harmless at the time but actually could have landed my dad in serious trouble......... Months later he made a similar statement in a letter that a friend shared with the FBI. "We started drinking whiskey. He was attracted to pretty girls who dated athletes, but he knew he stood little chance. I love my dad so much.

Justin respected his father, although he told detectives he found him cold and controlling. He told the detectives that he did not know Courtney and was merely taking a road trip to New York. He turned to prostitutes on a Sacramento street. Weinberger later refused interview requests routed through prison officials. When he moved to a new housing tract in nearby Rocklin, Justin hung out there. The memorial also drew strangers who were moved by the tragedy, or who were curious. Weinberger assured the agents that Justin would return later that day, and that they would be in contact. Confession of a Child Killer. He turned to tequila to numb the pain. He said he told her to take off her clothes, then he took away her innocence.

"I still cannot explain what I've done, " he said as he was sentenced early this year to life in prison. By fall, he was spinning out of control. "I told him I was going to flee, " Justin said, "and he said he was going to kill himself. He had dogs, cats and a tree fort. He spotted a pert girl with a ponytail. Not knowing whether the killer was close to the family, they feared for their other children. But the local kids barely tolerated this nerdy newcomer who wore plaid shirts and visors. He pulled up in his car, stopped, looked for a moment, and drove on. After Weinberger was extradited from New Mexico, Timberlake and Minter gingerly walked him through four hours of questioning while the video camera rolled. "She wanted to know where we were going.

The desk clerk called police, but they got away. Home for his first winter break, he passed out during a drinking bout on Jan. 25, 2000, and his friends photographed him sprawled with a bottle of Jack Daniel's. Not only that though... He had worked on the previous year's Yosemite rapes and murders in which the accused killer of two teenaged girls and two women offered the FBI a confession in exchange for child porn and other favors. "His parents gave him a lot of games. She gave chase at high speed and got his license number. But when he invited her for a ride, she begged off, saying she was almost home.

During the next two hours, Justin stuffed practically everything he owned into his Honda. She did not seem interested in romance and dating. He enrolled in computer courses at a local junior college. "He would be out playing basketball a lot, but by himself. " Courtney Sconce's parents became anxious about their child. University officials declined to say whether disciplinary action was taken. His father was, and he looked drained.

They didn't know who in the household was distributing porn, and they didn't know Justin's mother was on her deathbed. He also fretted that the publicity would hurt his career. The detectives started by searching Courtney's bedroom, where a BMW poster hung on the door. They said they focused on Justin's computer, the only one in the house with a high-speed Internet hookup. And, Weinberger alleged, family secrets tormented and bent him. I rifled through them and had a bit of a giggle and then put them back and went on my merry way. Sutter County deputies collected evidence with help from the state Department of Justice, where Michael Weinberger worked.

The guilt really is becoming too much and I'm tempted to tell him, which might permanently destroy our relationship. Minter and Timberlake flew to Albuquerque, where Weinberger had been moved. As a youngster, Justin took piano lessons and played soccer on a team his dad coached. Two hours later, a surveillance camera captured them trying to get into a closed supermarket. "She was worried about him committing suicide, " the friend's mother recalls. The FBI and other investigators questioned registered sex offenders and pulled over BMW owners. They stopped above the peaceful, green river. Driving around, he later told investigators, he grew "angry at the FBI because I felt they were causing me and my dad to die for basically no reason, for child pornography. " "I figured that if I had to go to jail, I should go for a crime that's worth going to jail for. "They showed me that terrible picture, the one that we parents hope we never see, " Mark Sconce recalls.

"It was weird, like they were brother and sister, " Harrington recalls. The victim in that case, hair salon owner Autom Specht, had pressed the district attorney's office to file a misdemeanor criminal complaint. "Don't hurt me, " he recalled her saying. "He mainly stayed to himself, " says Justin Rupert, who lived two doors away. He made a chilling decision. But having few friends, he spent long hours with the television and the Internet. His mother, Janice Maureen Weinberger, made rambling late-night calls to his closest buddy's mother. The street sign was festooned with ribbons and cards drawn by children. They trashed the place.

Kenneth Lanning, a Manassas, Va., consultant and former FBI expert on victimization of children, says, "He may have been molested by his mother, or may have been exposed to porn by his father, but [he] also can rationalize [his crime] by saying, 'I was a victim myself. ' Justin said they went to the garage, fired up two cars and waited for the carbon monoxide to do its work. But The Times was allowed to view his videotaped confession to sheriff's detectives.