thanks lothar

here is a sick story

Jan 18, 2006 9:32 am US/Central

Attorney: Money For Amsterdam Coffee Shop
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(AP) Chaska, Minn. A Chaska, Minn. man and three of his friends allegedly planned to kill his parents for money so they could open a coffee shop in Amsterdam, an attorney for the victim's family said.

Nancy Everson, 52, was shot to death in her home in Chaska early Sunday while her husband escaped out a window. Their son, Grant Everson, 20, and his three alleged accomplices were expected to be arraigned Wednesday on murder charges and related charges in Carver County District Court.

The Everson family attorney, Marsh Halberg, said at least one of the suspects told investigators the four had planned to use money they would get from the deaths of Nancy and Tom Everson to start a coffee shop in Amsterdam.

Friends said Grant Everson grew up hunting and camping with his family but had argued with his parents about grades and curfews in high school. After graduating from Chaska High School in 2003, he had tried living with friends several times but ended up moving back home, said friend Brianna Warner. He also had tried several jobs, including being a pizza delivery man and working at Best Buy and at a cell phone service center.

His portrayal as a killer "is not him. It's the total opposite of him," said Brandon Pike, who said Grant has been his best friend since seventh grade. Pike graduated from high school with Grant and has known him since they played on the same basketball team in second grade. He said that when he saw Grant a few weeks ago at the Eden Prairie Mall, Grant played with Pike's 8-month-old son and said he had started taking courses at Normandale Community College.

According to college records, Grant Everson has never been enrolled as a student at Normandale Community College.

Grant worked on cars and hunted with his dad and went on retreats with youth from the family's church, the Lake Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, which his mother chaperoned, said Karen Pike, who dated Grant in high school before marrying Brandon Pike.

Grant occasionally cut school to go snowboarding or hang out with friends playing video games or listening to punk or rock music, Warner said. He was pulled over about two years ago by a Chaska officer who found him with marijuana and gave him a strict warning, Warner recalled. He also fed her family cat when they were away and sometimes changed her car's engine oil, she said.

The last time Warner talked to him a few weeks ago, Grant said he was getting his life together, going to college and getting along well with his parents, who liked his longtime girlfriend.

Warner said she can't imagine Grant acting violently toward anyone. "There has to be some explanation. I know that he is not stupid enough or ignorant enough to plan or carry out something like this," she said. "It makes me wonder what had gone on the past few days that was so horrible that he thought he had no way out."

She said can't feel anything but shock until she visits her friend in jail and asks him, "Grant, what the hell happened?"

(© 2006 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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