Richard Jahnke Jr. was 16 years old when he fatally shot his father with a shotgun.
It was a dark evening in November 1982 when the adolescent opened fire on his IRS agent father, Richard Jahnke Sr., as he returned home with his wife, Maria Gonzales Jahnke.
According to a PEOPLE article from March 1983, the couple was returning from a dinner in Cheyenne, Wyoming, where they had celebrated the 20th anniversary of their first meeting.
Maria, 40, sat in the passenger seat of a VW Beetle as her 38-year-old husband exited the vehicle and walked up his driveway to open the garage.
People portrayed the elder Richard as “a short, balding, tough-faced 200-pounder” and a “IRS investigator who rarely left the house without a gun.”
The blast killed him instantaneously, and Richard Jr. (“Richie” to friends and family) subsequently stated, “I heard a ringing in my ears.” Only it wasn’t a ringing, but rather my mother’s shrieks. I couldn’t face having her see me and point her finger at me.
Meanwhile, Richie’s then-17-year-old sister, Deborah, was inside the house, sitting near another gun — a high-powered rifle — ready to defend herself if her brother missed. Following the incident, Richie and Deborah escaped through a rear window.
However, the next trial would shed light on what Maria herself described as “pure hell,” with family members alleging that Richard Sr. had assaulted them for years.
Maria claimed in her testimony that the abuse began when the children were two years old. Her spouse had an arsenal of 32 rifles, shotguns, and pistols, which she said he “lived for.”
Richie and Deborah both faced the possibility of life in prison: Richie for first-degree murder and conspiracy, and Deborah for collaborating with her brother to kill their father.
Richie stated at his trial that Deborah had asked him about his plan for their mother just before their parents returned home, saying, “What about Mom? Are you going to shoot her, too?” Before adding, he said, “Shoot Mom.”
Maria also testified, stating in what PEOPLE described as “a barely audible voice,” that her husband “put on a good appearance to the outside world, but inside that house it was pure hell.”
When asked by District Attorney Tom Carroll why she had stood by and condoned the abuse for so long, Maria replied, “I was afraid for the children and myself,” adding, “I’m no angel.” When you live in such intense fear, you do things you are ashamed of.”
However, Richie’s testimony was significantly more graphic, with the kid testifying for more than three hours about how much his father “hated” him.
“He hurt me on the inside. He despised me and only wanted to make my life miserable. “He beat me all my life,” he claimed, with his counsel pointing out that the family’s home was half an acre from any neighbors. “He wants to hurt me and my family. He slapped me with a leather belt, saying, ‘Stop sobbing, baby, or I’ll give you something to cry about.’ He’d only stop when his nose started bleeding; he had high blood pressure.
Richie went on, “He used to beat my mother, sitting on her and hammering away, her mouth foaming with blood, calling her’slut’ and ‘a fat s—.’ Last year, when my sister developed acne, my father blamed her of not washing. He hauled her into the bathroom and scrubbed her face so hard that she started bleeding. He taught her how to brush her teeth. He scraped her gums till they bled. He threw my sister against the wall and, to discipline her, groped her breasts. I once noticed him reaching inside my sister’s pants and feeling about. My mother also saw it, but pretended she didn’t.”
Richie went on to recount his father’s alleged sexual abuse of his sister, alleging their mother “got mad at my sister and said it was her fault for wearing shorts.”
“I was very hurt. My parents were constantly squabbling. In his testimony, Richie stated that they slept in different rooms and had a relationship without love. “We lived without love, without compassion, and that made me feel so monstrous…. We’re all trapped. There wasn’t anywhere to go. I recall my mother praying aloud that he would be hit by a car, but it never happened. “She wanted to leave him, but she was afraid.”
Richie went on to declare that he had told his sister that he would protect her, and that she needed to be free. I had to rescue my mother and myself from the anguish and misery that my father had given us, and would continue to cause us.
Richie’s attorney, James Barrett, summarized the case for the jury by outlining how Richard Sr. allegedly “murdered his son by inches, bits and pieces, day by day, week by week.” That’s the crime: slow torment.
After seven hours of discussion, the seven-woman, five-man jury returned their verdict: Richard Jr. was convicted of manslaughter but cleared of conspiracy charges, and he would be sentenced to five to fifteen years in the state penitentiary.
Deborah, meantime, was convicted of aiding and abetting voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to three to eight years in prison.
Following a public outcry over what many considered to be severe sentences, Wyoming Governor Edgar Herschler commuted both sentences, and Richie and Deborah were released in 1985.
Maria told PEOPLE in 1983: “I swear by all that’s holy, when those shots rang out, I never thought Richie was shooting.” I assumed that my aggressive husband was being gunned killed by an enemy. I recall leaning down over his body and feeling a hand contact mine. I looked up and ran over to George Hain, who lives across the street. He stated, ‘I’m here if you need me.’ My entire life, I was so isolated; I knew no one.”
“George called the police station, and after questioning me, the officers said, ‘Your neighbors, the Hains, want you to spend the night with them.'” “I couldn’t believe it,” she added. “They were very kind and loving to me. And then all of the neighbors began to arrive, apologizing not only for my problems, but also for being so preoccupied with their own. Now they want to demonstrate how much they care about the woman down the street.”
But Maria presented an upbeat view of the situation, stating, “Oh, I’ll live. I’m going to life to the fullest. My son has released me. He freed us all. I despised this house with a passion, yet it is now devoid of hatred and dread.”
“My husband’s things are just as he left them, and one day, when I am ready, they will all be gone,” she told me. “It broke my heart to learn that Deborah also wanted me to be shot. She has been seriously injured and requires extensive assistance. My poor children are going through ordeals, yet for the first time, we have hope. “We can live.”
