Teen who cut school killed dad with crossbow, cops say

HARRINGTON, Del. — A teenager told police he killed his father with a crossbow because he skipped school and feared his dad would be angry, court records show.

The arrest warrant for 17-year-old Seth H. Ramsey, a student at Lake Forest High School in nearby Felton, Del., contradicts what police said last week after his arrest — that they didn't know how Todd E. Ramsey, 41, was killed or the motive.

The warrant makes clear that "Seth stated he shot his father with a crossbow," a medieval-type weapon that fires arrows using a triggering mechanism, because "his father would be mad."

The warrant, obtained from Justice of the Peace Court, describes a bizarre scene at the Ramsey home about 20 miles southwest of Dover, Del. Troopers and Harrington police went there Thursday morning to check on the welfare of someone at the request of a caller.

When Sgt. Joseph Perna arrived at the house, two people flagged him down and said Seth Ramsey was in their car and "they believe he killed his father," the warrant said. The people who were at the house were Todd Ramsey's co-workers, who went because they were concerned that he had not been to work for a couple of days.

Police put Seth Ramsey in their vehicle and went inside the home, where they found smoke in the air and a burn mark on the living room carpet, the warrant said.

A piece of carpet was missing in a hallway in front of a blood-splattered door, and inside the room police found the elder Ramsey's lifeless body covered by the carpet section, records showed. He had been shot in the torso, the warrant said.

A trooper interviewed Seth Ramsey, who said he skipped school two days earlier and stayed home. The teen said his father was in his bedroom from 2 to 5 p.m.

"He knew when his father came out he would be mad, so he shot him," Detective William J. Porter wrote. "During the interview, Seth stated he shot his father with a crossbow."

State police could not immediately account for the discrepancy between what they told the media and what they wrote in the arrest warrant about the slaying.

Seth Ramsey faces charges of first-degree murder and possession of a deadly weapon — the crossbow — during the commission of a felony. He is being held without bail at the Stevenson Detention House for youth in Milford, Del., police said.