the tragic story of Anthony Templet, a murderous teenager with heavy secrets

This is the story of an unflappable, cold, distant 17-year-old who one night in 2019 killed his father in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. During an argument with the latter, Anthony Templet shot dead Burt Templet at their home, with a bullet to the head. While the victim’s body was lying on the ground, the young American phoned the emergency services to inform them of the crime he had just committed. “I killed my father,” he told the officer on the phone. A sentence that today serves as the title of a new documentary series on Netflix. The three-part program looks back on this murder, which was first considered a trivial news story, that of a rich kid who, out of whim or anger, attacked his father. But as the days go by, the investigation reveals a much darker side to this affair, made up of secrets and lies.

From his first interrogation, Anthony Templet confesses the facts, explaining that he does not like his father and that the two argue every day. But some elements come to put the chip in the ear of the agents. At 17, Anthony does not know his exact date of birth or his address. The young man who shows no emotion, is quickly imprisoned on bail. Living as a recluse for years, he thinks he can’t count on anyone. Hardly on his stepmother, separated from his father, and his half-brother. It is finally one of his superiors, who works with him in a nursery, who decides to make things happen to help him. Concerned for the well-being of this silent and calm teenager, she sets out in search of answers. The main question for her is the whereabouts of Anthony’s mother, whom he says he doesn’t know. She hires a specialist in genealogical investigation who manages to trace the boy’s family. She finds her mother, her grandmother, and her aunt, as well as her half-sister. The latter tell him that Anthony has been missing for almost 11 years, in another state, without ever hearing from him again.

“I have a very strong desire to see Anthony have success in life”

Still a very small boy, he himself explains in the documentary that he does not remember his mother. In the American media, the life of this child kidnapped by his father is passionate. Little by little, the journalists, investigators as well as the defendant’s lawyer discover that Anthony was spied on and watched hour by hour by his father who had never sent him to school. It was with his mother-in-law that he learned to read. And it was alone, without any friends, that he spent his time, locked up at home. The portrait of Burt begins to take shape: a seemingly quiet man, who earned a good living and lived happily with his second wife, but who in reality was addicted to drugs, paranoid and above all, very violent.

For justice at the time, the debate is whether Anthony killed his father in self-defense or whether he acted in good conscience. According to his lawyer, there is no doubt that his client was the victim of abuse by Burt Templet, who had been convicted in Texas for numerous acts of violence against his first companion and mother of the child. The three episodes of the series show how the teenager’s lawyer tries to defend him. They conclude with the court’s decision to find him guilty, in 2021, of negligent homicide and to sentence him to five years of supervised probation. He is now free and has an obligation to obtain his baccalaureate. “When I saw this injustice, I said to myself that the kid could not stay in prison. It may not be what I was hoping for, but the system is flawed. We have tried to obtain the best justice for him and I believe that is the case, ”explains his lawyer in the documentary. “I have a very strong desire to see Anthony have success in life,” he adds, pointing out that it took him killing his father for the people around him to finally care about him. .