Deepra Sarkar
Four members of the Futo family were found dead within hours on July 26, 1991. The police suspected one of the family’s own members to be linked to the murder. This member was the eldest among the three sons born to the Futo parents. Emory Futo Jr. was tracked down in California only a few days after his family members’ bodies were found. In 2020, after almost 30 years, he spoke up about the crime, confessing to killing all four members. The day Emory was arrested, he had his wife, Angela, and his then-toddler son, Joshua, with him. Investigation Discovery’s ‘American Monster’ featured the murders in an episode titled ‘It Was All of Them.’
Emory Futo’s Wife and Son Led a Normal, Stable Life Until 1991
When Emory realized he wanted to get out of Missouri and, more importantly, away from his family and his allegedly abusive father, he joined the Navy. He was stationed at Pearl Harbor. While he was still serving in the Navy, he saw a psychiatrist. During his counseling sessions, he came across Angela Leverenz, who was a resident of California. During his Christmas leave in 1985, Emory and Angela got married. Then, at the end of his service, he started working as a mechanic at Metal Container Corp in Riverside, 50 miles east of Los Angeles, to provide for his family. Emory and Angela together bought a new stucco style home on a peaceful and calm cul-de-sac. According to statements from their neighbors, the couple was very well-liked, and they would maintain quiet.
On July 4, 1990, Emory and Angela had their first and only son, Joshua. In 1991, they hosted a neighborhood party to celebrate their son’s first birthday. Emory extended the invitation to his parents, and they did fly in from St. Louis to attend the occasion. However, it turns out this would soon turn out to be the prime root of the fateful killings that occurred just a few days later. That’s because Emory reportedly walked in on his father while he was touching Joshua inappropriately. In his confession, Emory recounted the incident. “Once you touch my son, and that happened… that’s already etched in stone in my heart and my mind. It can’t go no further,” he said.
In other words, this particular incident made Emory plot with his brothers to kill his parents. However, he later ended up killing his brothers too. From his comments in the 2020 confession, it appears as if Angela was also made aware of what Emory’s father had done to their son. When the police came to arrest him at their Riverside, California residence, he pulled his wife aside. “She said, is this about Josh, and I started to cry, and I said yes. She said, is this about what happened here and I said yes,” Emory can be heard saying in the confession. As per records, since Angela came from a family with comfortable financial conditions, it was made clear early that the familicide wasn’t for greed. Even, Betty Guetersloh, a cousin of the Futos’, stated that the murders were not driven by financial gain.
Emory Futo’s Wife and His Son Prefer to Lead Quiet Lives Today
Angela Futo was in the audience when a jury of eight women and four men found Futo guilty of all four members on March 12, 1993. In an article published by St. Louis Dispatch dated March 13, 1993, Angela Futo, 27 at the time, was seen crying softly as her mother embraced her after the conviction was announced. Her father and Emory’s father-in-law expressed his disappointment in a comment obtained by the newspaper. Towards the end of his confession, Emory is heard crying, saying that he misses his family. Angela Futo and Joshua Futo have stayed away from the public eye since Emory’s sentencing, which is understandable. We assume they still live in California and have hopefully moved on in their lives.
Read More: Where is Emory Futo Now?
