Such Good Boys: The True Story of a Mother, Two Sons and a Horrifying Murder

"AN ABUSIVE MOTHER
Raised in the suburb of Riverside, California, twenty-year-old college student Jason Bautista endured for years his emotionally disturbed mother's verbal and psychological abuse. She even locked him out of the house, tied him up with electrical cord, and on one occasion, gave him a beating that sent him to the emergency room. His fifteen-year-old half brother Matthew Montejo also was a victim to Jane Bautista's dark mood swings and erratic behavior, but for some reason, Jason received the brunt of the abuse—until he decided he'd had enough…

A SON'S REVENGE
On the night of January 14, 2003, Jason strangled his mother. To keep authorities from identifying her body, he chopped off her head and hands, an idea he claimed show more he got from watching an episode of the hit TV series "The Sopranos." Matthew would later testify in court that he sat in another room in the house with the TV volume turned up while Jason murdered their mother. He also testified that he drove around with Jason to find a place to dump Jane's torso.

A CRIME THAT WOULD BOND TWO BROTHERS
The morning following the murder, Matthew went to school, and Jason returned to his classes at Cal State San Bernardino. When authorities zeroed in on them, Jason lied and said that Jane had run off with a boyfriend she'd met on the Internet. But when police confronted the boys with overwhelming evidence, Jason confessed all. Now the nightmare was only just beginning for him…"
This is a well-written, thought-provoking look into how childhood experiences can impact someone in ways that could never be expected. The author carefully lays out the timeline and events with refreshing clarity and then drives the reader straight into a horror no parent should experience regardless of any attempt at justification. show less

True Crime books are often hard to read as they sometimes are just facts slapped on paper and tend to be boring. This account of a very interesting case was easy to read and got me emotionally attached to the story. Those kids lived through hell, there is no denying it. Still, murder is murder, but in this case, it seemed possible to me that it might very well of started out as a self-defense crime and turned into over the top blind rage from one who had been pushed too far for many years. Abuse emotional and physical can do that to you. Just make you snap one day. It would have been a hard case to be a juror on.

As suspected I tried to imagine the life of these three between the lines. After 18 years of mental abuse, Jason could have learned how not to show emotion, hold his thoughts to himself, and a survival thought process that taught him self-reliance and prevented him from showing remorse.

Very interesting and multiple areas of intrigue. Happy that I wasn’t on the jury.

on Tuesday, September 16, 2008 I wrote about this book:

Just finished it a few seconds ago (It is Tuesday September 16-2008 12.44.)

Quick read but what a sad case. You could feel that the author sided with the 2 boys. She was looking for excuses for both of them, but especially for Jason. Not that it did bother me.
All in all a good read. 8.5

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