Tulsa Police: Man Suspected Of Murdering His Parents Tried To Destroy Evidence

Homicide detectives say a man accused of murdering his parents tried to destroy all the evidence at the crime scene. Detectives say these murders were premeditated and they believe Bryan Spence tried to blow up the home after shooting his parents.

Wednesday, March 4th 2020, 6:29 pm

By: News On 6

Homicide detectives say a man accused of murdering his parents tried to destroy all the evidence at the crime scene.

Bryan Spence in the Tulsa County jail for the shooting deaths of his parents, Joseph and Beverly Spence. Detectives say the murders were premeditated and that after the murders, Spence tried to make it look like a burglary happened, before trying to blow up the house.

Police say when they found Joseph and Beverly Spence shot in their Tulsa home the back door was open, candles were lit, and the house was filled with gas.

"You've got a staged scene. You've got a double murder of two loving parents. This one is in a class by itself, says Lt. Brandon Watkins, a Tulsa Police Homicide Detective.

A patrol officer smelled gas and realized it could endanger the whole neighborhood, so he immediately called the Tulsa Fire Department to evacuate the area and turn off the gas.

“You know his actions probably saved people in that neighbor’s lives because that house had been set to blow,” says Watkins.

Records show Spence owed his parents $17,000 dollars and had deleted text messages saying he planned to go to his parent's house in Tulsa Sunday night.

Detectives say Spence denied being at his parents’ house, but they say surveillance video in the neighborhood says otherwise.

"There was quite a bit of discussion with the suspect and other people where there is no doubt in my mind that he premeditated this for quite some time,” says Watkins.

Lt. Watkins says in the year and a half he's been in homicide, he has never seen a case quite like this one.

"We've never had anything that I'm aware of quite like this where the killer tried to stage the scene, killer set up the house to explode,” says Watkins. "So many have been devastated by the loss of these two people. They were extremely popular in their church. We had two full church communities come out, pastors from both places, these were just good people.

Spence is in the Tulsa County jail for two counts of first-degree murder.

Related Video: Tulsa Police Make Arrest In Connection To Double Homicide

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