--- title: Virginia Teen Admits to Killing Parents Because They Took His iPod description: Their punishments apparently prompted a fit of rage canonical: https://time.com/138601/teen-kills-parents-because-they-took-his-ipod/ author: Samantha Grossman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-05-29T21:01:03.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:10:10.350Z og:title: Teen Kills Parents Because They Took His iPod Away og:description: Along with other routine punishments og:url: https://time.com/138601/teen-kills-parents-because-they-took-his-ipod/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfad033d50747da47/69869162adae4440d9543507/489057167.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Technological Waste og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Teen Kills Parents Because They Took His iPod Away twitter:description: Along with other routine punishments twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfad033d50747da47/69869162adae4440d9543507/489057167.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Teen Admits He Killed His Parents Because They Took His iPod Away by [Samantha Grossman](https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman May 29, 2014 9:01 PM UTC  Old Technology? Old Technology?Getty Images by [Samantha Grossman](https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman May 29, 2014 9:01 PM UTC A teenager in Norfolk, Virginia, who was accused of murdering both his parents pleaded guilty in court this week. The reason he committed the crime, he explained, was that he’d gotten angry over routine punishments. “I just remember getting mad,” 16-year-old Vincent Parker told investigators. “It’s all from my dad. All this stuff like my dad taking away my iPod and stuff.” Warning: the details of the murders are gruesome. Parker first attacked his mother by dousing her with pepper spray, stabbing her in the eye and beating her with a baseball bat and crowbar until she stopped breathing, CBS affiliate WTKR[ reports](http://wtkr.com/2014/05/28/10th-grader-admits-to-murdering-parents-because-of-seemingly-routine-punishments/). When his father got home afterwards, Parker attacked his father with a crowbar and stabbed him several times. Parker pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder in adult court this week, and his sentence will be handed down in September. His family members were puzzled because he has no criminal record and he’s an honor-roll student. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/138601/teen-kills-parents-because-they-took-his-ipod/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/138601/teen-kills-parents-because-they-took-his-ipod/"},"headline":"Teen Admits He Killed His Parents Because They Took His iPod Away","datePublished":"2014-05-29T21:01:03.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:10:10.350Z","description":"Their punishments apparently prompted a fit of rage","url":"https://time.com/138601/teen-kills-parents-because-they-took-his-ipod/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Millennials","Crime","kids","iPod"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfad033d50747da47/69869162adae4440d9543507/489057167.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Samantha Grossman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfad033d50747da47/69869162adae4440d9543507/489057167.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Technological Waste","caption":"Technological Waste","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/138601/teen-kills-parents-because-they-took-his-ipod/","name":"Teen Admits He Killed His Parents Because They Took His iPod Away"}}]}] ```