A former "Riverdale" actor who admitted to murdering his mother also wanted to kill Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, it was revealed in court.
Ryan Grantham, 24, — who played teen Jeffery Augustine on the hit CW show — pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for shooting mom Barbara Waite in the back of the head as she played piano in their British Columbia home on March 31, 2020.
Grantham Rehearsed Shooting His Mother
In the months leading up to his mother's slaying, the court heard Grantham felt hopeless and had a desire to commit violence, CBC News reported. He even contemplated suicide with feelings of anger and anxiousness over perceived failures.
He did a walk-through of the crime by secretly approaching his mother with a gun on one occasion; a Go-Pro camera caught at least one of his rehearsals, CBC News reported. Additional footage showed his mother's dead body with him saying, "I shot her in the back of the head. In the moments after, she would have known it was me."
In his March 31 journal entry he wrote, "I'm so sorry mom, I'm so sorry Lisa ... I hate myself." After the shooting, he went out to get money, weed and beer and then experimented making Molotov Cocktails and watched Netflix before covering his mom's body in a sheet and going to bed, according to his statement to police.
Before he left the British Columbia residence the next day, he hung a rosary on the piano and arranged lit candles around his 64-year-old mother's body. Waite's body was found later that day by her daughter Lisa Grantham after her mother didn't return her texts and phone calls. Grantham pleaded guilty to the murder on March 9 in BC Supreme Court. He faces life in prison.
Plot to Kill Trudeau
During his sentencing hearing on Monday, prosecutors said after killing his mother, Grantham packed his car with three guns, ammunition, 12 Molotov cocktails, camping supplies and a sheet with directions to Rideau Cottage where Trudeau lives in Ottawa.
Grantham, 24, detailed his plan to kill Trudeau in statements to authorities and also noted it in a private journal read in court, the report said. However, he drove only a few hours east before turning around with thoughts of killing people on Vancouver's Lions Gate Bridge or at the university where he was a student.
He ultimately drove to Vancouver police headquarters instead, approached an officer in a police car and said, "I killed my mother."
Role in 'Riverdale,' Other Credits
In addition to his supporting role in "Riversdale," a show based off the "Archie" comic book series, Grantham also appeared in TV's "Supernatural" and the movie "Dairy of a Wimpy Kid." In Riverdale, the character played by Grantham is actually responsible for killing Archie's father in a hit and run driving accident.
