Family Members Couldn’t Find Boy For 11 Years — Then He Killed Dad They Say Kidnapped, Abused Him
When Baton Rouge police arrived at the home of Burt Templet earlier this month, they encountered a dad who had been killed by his son.
Templet, 53, had been shot in the head and torso. His 17-year-old son, Anthony Templet, told police he had shot his abusive father in self-defense.
According to a police report first obtained by WAFB-TV, Anthony Templet was sleeping in his room when he said his father drunkenly woke him up at 3 a.m. The report states that the two began arguing about a phone call to a family member, though it’s unclear who placed the call.
Anthony Templet told police he went back to his bedroom, but his father followed him and initiated a physical altercation.
According to police documents, Anthony told police that he grabbed two guns and shot his father three times before calling 911.
Police initially charged Anthony Templet with attempted manslaughter. After his father died in the hospital, they upgraded the charge to manslaughter, WBRZ reports.
But now Anthony Templet’s family has come forward, claiming that the teen was kidnapped by his abusive father in 2008, when he was just 5 years old — and that they had no idea whether the boy was alive or dead.
“He snatched him from our home,” Anthony’s sister, Natasha, tells WAFB. “I can only imagine what Anthony’s been through. When he was a baby, Burt would hold him in his arms while abusing my mother.”
Natasha told the station that she and her mother had posted missing flyers around Baton Rouge — but never found Anthony.
“After 11 years of waiting to hear if my brother was alive, he is found,” Natasha, continued. “He has been secluded and abused all these years by his own father. My brave brother had to defend himself for the last time against that evil man.”
PEOPLE confirms that there is no missing person report for Anthony listed with the National Crime Information Center (NCIC), but authorities say that they are investigating the circumstances of the 2008 disappearance.
The District Attorney, Hillar Moore, tells WAFB that his office is in contact with several of Anthony’s relatives. “We will speak with them and review whatever information anyone has before deciding what action to take,” Moore told the station.
According to court records obtained by KHOU, Burt Templet was charged with assault three times between 2001 and 2002. Two of the cases were dismissed, though the disposition of the third was not immediately clear. There have also been at least three restraining orders filed against him by former girlfriends.
Anthony Templet’s attorneys say that their client is not guilty, but is a victim of tragic abuse.
“Was this kid set up for this kind of behavior?” attorney Jarrett Ambeau said to WAFB. “Was this an inevitable act from this young man given the history of abuse, the systematic and lifelong abuse that he had endured at the hands of his father?”
Templet remains in custody. He is being held on $100,000 bond.
