Kriti Mehrotra
With Netflix’s ‘I Just Killed My Dad’ exploring the twisted tale of the Templet family from every conceivable angle, a lot of previously obscure details are actually coming to light for the first time. These include the extent of Burt Templet’s control over his family as well as the neglect Anthony Templet endured since he was a child to chart the absolute reality behind the former’s homicide. So now, if you wish to learn more about Burt — with a specific focus on his not-so-clean past, his dark inclinations, and his then-teenage son’s motives to take his life — we’ve got you covered.
Who Was Burt Templet?
At the age of 53, Burt Anthony Templet seemed like a hard-working family man who often preferred to have some fun with friends over the weekends, yet the truth is it wasn’t his entire essence. This three-part docuseries actually indicates the Louisiana native not only always wished to be the center of everybody’s attention but was also a heavy drinker and a hard drug (cocaine) user. It’s thus a little unsurprising that he lashed out at every minor inconvenience and even has an extensive criminal history full of assault charges dating back to at least the 1990s, per the original.
Burt was detained three times on physical assault counts between 2001 and 2002 while residing in Texas (around the time of his son Anthony’s birth), yet two instances were ultimately dismissed. However, we need to mention that he spent time in jail for attacking his partner when she was pregnant with the boy, according to the production, and even the latter’s half-sister maintains there was abuse. “Burt and my mom were together for about ten years, and it was extremely violent…,” she once said. “When [Anthony] was a baby, Burt would hold him in his arms while abusing my mother.”
As if that’s not enough, Burt essentially kidnapped his own son from his biological mother back in 2008 before returning to Louisiana, only to control his every action, interest, and education. There was no schooling for Anthony, he was allegedly verbally, emotionally, as well as physically abused for years, and either cellphone GPS or home cameras tracked him at all times. Even Burt’s wife, whom he’d met in his home state months after acquiring his son, left him and filed a protective order following incidents of extreme domestic violence (threats, punches, shattering her teeth, etc.).
Why Did Anthony Templet Kill His Father?
As per Anthony’s narrative in the Netflix docuseries, his stepmother’s departure around six months prior to the fateful June 3, 2019, event is what truly sparked “the beginning of the end.” That’s because his father subsequently began drinking every day, grew paranoid owing to the legal protective order, started carrying a loaded firearm at almost all times, and picked up the abuse. Anthony said he tried his best to stay isolated in his room, but since it was just the two of them now, he was Burt’s only target — yet he still never opened up to the police even when he had the chance.
It was roughly 3-3:15 am on June 3 when Anthony woke up to find his father going through his phone and call logs with his stepmother, leading to an argument that became a physical altercation. This was the moment the youngster decided to end it all because he’d had enough and didn’t trust the judicial or the social systems, especially as nobody had helped him over the years, as per ‘I Just Killed My Dad.’ He hence ran to Burt’s bedroom, grabbed the two revolvers kept there (one was back-up), and opened the locked door when his father had ultimately stopped pounding on it.
17-year-old Anthony pulled the trigger once before pursuing Burt as he walked back into the bathroom, only to ignore his pleas not to shoot him again and fire twice more — the final one missed. His father took a bullet to the chest as well as the head, with the latter being the cause of his death the moment he was unplugged from the ventilator at Baton Rouge’s Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center on June 6, 2019. Anthony had called the emergency services immediately after the incident and relayed the whole evening, meaning he was already in complete custody by this point.
We should mention Anthony’s initial goal was simply to injure his father so he could explain the abuse to the authorities and be allowed to get away from Burt for good, according to the production. But it obviously didn’t work out that way, and he eventually pleaded guilty to negligent homicide.
Read More: Where is Anthony Templet Now?
