A Texas man who was convicted of drowning his girlfriend’s 3-year-old nephew in a pond years earlier learned his fate in court on Friday.
Bobby Woods Jr., 21, was sentenced life in prison without parole for the capital murder of Mason Cuttler, who he left to die in a pond near the family’s Lufkin home in August 2015. Woods thought his girlfriend, Billie Jean Cuttler, 23, was pregnant at the time, leading him to kill the toddler to make room in the home because it already housed three families, according to Fox News.
Mason Cuttler’s body was found a day after he was reported missing. Citing a criminal complaint, the New York Daily News reported that the then-17-year-old confessed to ignoring the toddler’s cries for help as he drowned.
Woods reportedly told detectives that Billie Jean Cuttler said she wanted her nephew dead. A lawyer revealed the girlfriend was never pregnant.
According to KTRE, Billie Jean Cuttler pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder in June and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
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[Featured image: Mason Cuttler/Facebook; Bobby Woods Jr./Angelina County Sheriff’s Office]