William Shultz, 18, of Discovery Bay, Calif., (Contra Costa County Office of the Sheriff)
In measured tones, Shultz smiled as he described his family's increasing concern over his odd behavior and mental health in the past month, culminating with a brief hospitalization at the county hospital Saturday, before he said a doctor discharged him and sent him in a cab to his mother's Discovery Bay home. An argument with his mother led him to the Almgren residence, where he spent Saturday night before stabbing Jordon Almgren early Sunday morning, the teen said. Jordon's older brother had been his best friend since sixth grade, he said.
"I wanted to see what it was like to take a life before someone tried to take mine," said Shultz, wearing his yellow, jail-issued jumpsuit and a buzz cut.
Shultz was arrested Sunday on suspicion of Jordon's murder, and is being held on $1 million bail in the County Jail in Martinez.
Sheriff's deputies received the stabbing report at about 10 a.m. Sunday at Jordon's house on the 1900 block of Frost Way, but when they arrived, family members had already brought the boy to a medical center. Shultz, who had spent the night at Jordon's home, was identified as the suspect, and a sheriff's spokesman said he attacked the boy overnight for "unknown reasons."
Detectives are trying to establish a motive, sheriff's spokesman Jimmy Lee said.
© Almgren FamilyJordon Almgren, 9, who played on the Angels youth baseball team, was killed in his Discovery Bay home April 26, 2015.
During the interview, Shultz spoke about his turbulent life, recounting his fears over the past month that the world was ending and his struggles to make sense of his purpose. He spoke calmly, smiling often and making eye contact, until a reporter asked Shultz if he felt remorse about killing the small boy.
"I wish that I hadn't. I think about what if that was my little brother," Shultz said sobbing, as he referred to his 8-year-old brother. "In that sense, I do feel bad. I do have remorse for what I did ... But there's a reason for everything that happens."
The day before the stabbing, Lee said, deputies were dispatched to Shultz's Discovery Bay house and were asked by Shultz's family to evaluate his mental health. Deputies determined that he did not meet the criteria for a mental health hold; however, the teen agreed to be taken by ambulance to the county hospital for evaluation and treatment, Lee said.
Attempts to reach Shultz's parents Monday were unsuccessful, and a family spokesman declined to comment.
Shultz, who said he has no criminal record, has lived in Discovery Bay for about a decade and said his past played a role in the stabbing. He attended Liberty High School, and transferred to La Paloma and Independence high schools before stopping his education without graduating.
Shultz described a difficult upbringing, clashing with parents who divorced when he was 13.
"A lot goes into what led me to that moment," Shultz said, speaking of the stabbing. "I'd have to say it started when I left for L.A."
About a month ago, Shultz said, he got in a fight with his parents and left home for Los Angeles.
"What's the purpose of why I'm on this Earth? I need to find that," he said, adding that he started noticing "coincidences or miracles."
He planned to go to Disneyland but left a Riverside bus stop and walked to his grandmother's house. He said his relatives all expressed concerns over his mental state, and shared books with him that he said contained mysterious messages.
His sister gave him a book of Robert Frost poems and highlighted the famous "The Road Not Taken," Shultz said, reciting some of the lines. At a dinner with his uncle, he said he received Southland Tales comic books, with one including an excerpt from the Frost poem, another with a Biblical quotation from Revelations.
A Bible from his father, he said, included a crossed out "forehead," and he pointed to a scar on his forehead that he got when he was 3. He said he became obsessed with the number "3" and those "coincidences" from the books.
He said he started becoming fixated with the number "3" and those "coincidences" from the books.
He returned two weeks ago to Discovery Bay, but his strange actions only increased, getting a tattoo under his left wrist with a crescent moon, next to a star and then a cross. Shultz held his wrist to the glass partition between himself and a reporter and explained that if you drew a line below the star, it would spell the word "it."
" 'It' could be life, 'it' could be Mother Nature, Allah or God," he explained.
He said he saw a Discovery Bay stop sign with the word "threes" written above it, a chalk drawing on the asphalt with a triangle and three eyes, houses with three street lamps and trios of palm trees.
He shopped at a grocery store and said he witnessed "strange human behavior."
On Thursday, he said, he bought survival gear and planned to find a way to South America to avoid an upcoming American civil war. He bought a "Bear Grylls knife," which he said was the stabbing weapon.
"I saw it as the world was sorta coming to an end," he said, adding that he told this to his mother.
"She didn't want to hear it. It concerned her about my mental state. She wanted me to see a psychiatrist," he said.
On Saturday, he said, he was taken to the county hospital, where he spoke to a psychiatrist for two hours, sharing his books but telling the doctor he was not hearing voices.
"He didn't even know how to take it," he said. "He decided to discharge me and sent me home in a taxi, and I later found out he called my mom and told her I was delusional."
A Contra Costa Health Services spokeswoman said Monday she couldn't comment on the decision to discharge Shultz, citing health privacy laws.
Upon his return home, he said he fought with his mother and she kicked him out, sending him to his best friend's house.
At the house that day, kids of all ages were playing video and other games and eating pizza, he said. Eventually, everyone went to sleep, but at 3 a.m. he felt paranoid.
"I couldn't sleep," he said. "I had all these thoughts going through my mind."
He said he thought of killing his best friend but had concerns because he was too big.
"I singled out his little brother and went into his room while he was asleep," he said. "At the time, there was no feeling ... I was asking myself why am I standing over him? What am I about to do?
"I put my hand over his face, and I stabbed him," he said, showing little emotion. He said he confessed to detectives, too, and stressed that the stabbing was not premeditated.
After the stabbing, Shultz said, he drove to the hospital, where he was later handcuffed by police to his bed. He said he considered driving to his father's house to shoot himself.
"But then no one could make sense of why I killed my best friend's little brother," he said.
Reader Comments
Now the news has spread, this guy is getting employment offers from every police agency in the land. Body camera my arse
Kid sees psych. Then becomes homicidal. We have seen this story so many times, there must be a pattern to it.