Second Teen Admits To McClendon Murders
CROWN POINT, Ind. (CBS) - A second Hammond, Ind., teenager pleaded guilty Tuesday to the murders of the elderly parents of former CLTV talk show host Garrard McClendon.
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Reo Jonta Thompson, 18, pleaded guilty Tuesday morning to two counts of murder in the perpetration of a robbery, the Lake County, Ind., Prosecutor's office confirmed. He is the second defendant to plead guilty to the murder and robbery of Milton and Ruby McClendon last year.
Co-defendant Gregory Brooks Jr., 19, has also pleaded guilty to the Oct. 19, 2009 slayings.
Prosecutors alleged Brooks and co-defendant Reo Jonta Thompson, 17, beat the McClendons; stole $50 in cash, a rifle, jewelry and other items; then locked the couple in a closet.
Brooks and Thompson, who claimed, they were with a third suspect named Kevin Langley, left the residence, then returned to "finish off" the McClendons, according to charging documents in the case.
Investigators have said they do not believe Kevin Langley is a real person.
The McClendons' bodies were found later that day about two miles from their home in a Calumet City forest preserve. Ruby McClendon was shot multiple times, while Milton McClendon was killed by a single shot to the head.
The McClendons are the parents of former CLTV talk show host Garrard McClendon.
Brooks and Thompson were seen by multiple witnesses riding in the McClendons' stolen Cadillac El Dorado in the days after the killings, and were captured on surveillance video selling jewelry stolen from the McClendons at a Hammond pawn shop.
The car was found abandoned on the Dan Ryan Expressway near Garfield Boulevard, and a witness described two males walking away from the car, which had run out of gas, prosecutors said.
