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- State Times Advocate, Baton Rouge, LA, Friday, December 20, 1963
Collegian Held For Murdering Both Parents
WILMINGTON, Calif. (AP) ? An 18-year-old college student was booked Thursday night on suspicion of murder after police said he shot and killed both his parents, then locked their bedroom door from the inside to make it look like a murder-suicide.
Sheriff?s deputies broke down the bedroom door and found Fred Emery Bassett, 47, dead with a bullet in his chest. His wife, Margaret, 43, lay nearby, a fatal wound in her head.
Their son, Fred Kipp Bassett, a psychology major at Long Beach State College, told deputies he heard his parents quarreling in the locked bedroom and then heard shots.
Sheriff?s sergeants Jack Lawton and Charles Vaughn said young Bassett?s story did not ring true. They said they were puzzled by a bloodstained plastic bag found in the bedroom.
As deputies questioned Bassett, they said he broke down and confessed.
Lawton and Vaughn, quoted Bassett as saying: ?I?d been planning to kill them for years. At first, I was going to use a rolling pin. Then I thought an ice pick would be better. I finally decided on the gun.?
Deputies said Bassett told them he originally planned to use the plastic bag to smother his parents but changed his mind.
Deputies said he gave no reason for the shootings.
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Bassett Family Association Database
1915 - 1963 (48 years)