On February 1, 2018, 78-year-old Otto Youngers, a male resident of Tacoma, Washington, was found deceased in his home on South Wilkeson Street. The discovery was made by police after they received a call from a friend of Youngers' son, who had received a disturbing text message. In the message, the son, Kurt Otto Youngers, who was 53 at the time, claimed to have shot his father.
This prompted a welfare check at the residence.
Upon their arrival at approximately 4 p.m., officers found Otto Youngers deceased on his couch from a gunshot wound to the face, his body covered with a blanket. His son, Kurt, was present at the scene and made a series of strange statements to the authorities. He referred to his father as a "monster" and claimed to have killed him. Kurt's bizarre explanations for his actions included his father's supposed refusal to admit to being a Nazi and to killing President John F. Kennedy. In his pocket, Kurt had a shell casing which he described as a "keepsake" of the event.
Kurt Youngers, an internationally recognized wood sculptor, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in connection with his father's death. Neighbors had noticed his increasingly strange behavior in the weeks leading up to the incident. Though he and his father were known and liked in the neighborhood, they mostly kept to themselves. Following his arrest, questions about Kurt's mental competency arose. In November 2018, he was found incompetent to stand trial and was committed to Western State Hospital. The case against him was dismissed without prejudice, allowing for the possibility of future charges. In a later development in March 2025, after being released from the state hospital to a behavioral health facility, Kurt Youngers was recharged with the first-degree murder of his father.
