July 25 -- Four Colorado teenagers facing charges in the killings of another boy and his grandparents carried out the alleged triple murder because they believed the young victim's grandfather was a racist, prosecutors said.
Isaac Grimes, 16, told police he agreed to kill 15-year-old Tony Dutcher and his grandparents because he was on "probation" in a group organized by 19-year-old Simon Sue, and that was the only way he could get back in good standing with the others.
He was scheduled to be arraigned on Tuesday, but was granted a postponement because his new lawyer asked for more time to review the case.
According to the account Grimes allegedly gave police, he was a member of something called OARA, which Sue told him was a paramilitary group with ties to the government of Guyana, where Sue's family was from.
The members of the group were supposed to be good citizens, shunning alcohol, drugs and racism.
According to prosecutors, Grimes said that on New Year's Eve he went to the Dutchers' home in Guffey, Colo., to camp out with Tony, who was a classmate of his at Palmer High School in Colorado Springs. Another member of the group, Jonathan Matheny, 17, drove Grimes to the Dutchers' home and dropped him off, promising to come back late that night to help kill the grandparents, according to Grimes, prosecutors said.
Shortly after the two teenagers went off to a homemade lean-to about 200 yards from the Dutcher home, Grimes got behind the other boy and slashed his throat, according to the account.
"His throat had been slashed clear to the spinal column and he bled to death," Park County District Attorney's investigator Leonard Post said.
Shots Through a Door
Grimes said Tony Dutcher's grandparents, Carl and Joanna, didn't think anything was wrong when he came back to the house at around midnight, because the boys would often come back after spending just a few hours camping in the cold.
At around 4 a.m., after Carl and Joanna Dutcher had gone to bed, Matheny returned and Grimes let him in. Carl Dutcher apparently heard the noise and got up, and when he came out into the hallway Matheny shot him twice, according to Grimes' account.
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