A father who suffocated his 5-year-old son apparently to get back at his soon-to-be ex-wife will spend the rest of his life in prison, never to be paroled.
Gary DeToma said nothing in court Tuesday other than to plead guilty to murdering Gary Jr. and trying to kill his younger son, Will, to avoid a possible death penalty if convicted at trial.
District Attorney Robert James said DeToma's ex-wife Melanie Roberts was satisfied with the decision, especially considering that DeToma accepted responsibility for murdering their son and trying to kill their other son, who was 4 at the time, in July 2010.
As was part of the agreement, Gary DeToma, now 44, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole; he had been given until June 1 to decide or James was moving forward with a death penalty trial.
"It’s a resolution," James said after the guilty plea. "Nobody wins. You've got a child who has lost his life and is no longer with us, and was killed in a horrible fashion; he was suffocated. You've got a father who is going to prison for the rest of his life, without parole, who never again will never be a father to his surviving son. You've got a mother grieving for the life of her child."
And Gary DeToma's family is grieving as well, James noted.
"It's a tragic situation," he said.
James said the only explanations for the murder he expected to be presented at trial was Gary DeToma had suffered a head injury at work that may have altered his thinking and he was frustrated with the failure of his marriage and the tenor of the divorce proceedings.
After a weekend visit with his two sons almost two years ago, Gary DeToma made a terrible decision.
Until then, neighbors said they saw Gary DeToma as a loving father who would skip work to take his sons to the park, who took them on trips to visit their grandparents. The Sunday night before Gary Jr. was killed, neighbors saw Gary Sr. outside his Decatur apartment watching his sons riding their bikes.
But on that Monday morning, July 12, 2010, Gary DeToma's truck was parked outside his apartment hours after he usually went to his job as an electrician. And he did not bring his son's to his mother-in-law, as was the temporary agreement with his estranged wife while their divorce was pending; it was "not a good divorce," one of the attorneys said at the time.
The police were called but no one answered the door at Gary DeToma's apartment. The property manager said she was not authorized to open the door.
Later that day, one of Gary DeTom'as co-workers came to the Decatur apartment to check on him. When his knocks went unanswered, the co-worker put an extension ladder against the building so he could look through one of the bedroom windows.
Police said that is when he saw Gary Jr.'s body on a bed. The co-worker, who was never named, was able to persuade Will DeToma, still in his pajamas, to open the door. Gary DeToma was reportedly inside the apartment with Will and Gary Jr.'s body.
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