BUTTE, Mont. — A Washington man charged with killing his 3-year-old son in southwestern Montana plans to change his plea on Tuesday.
Jeremy Brent Cramer, 38, of Lacey, near Olympia, is scheduled to appear in District Court in Anaconda, The Montana Standard reported. Authorities didn’t release additional details.
He had previously pleaded not guilty to mitigated deliberate homicide in the death of his son, Broderick, in July. Prosecutors say he might have been under the influence of a prescription stimulant.
A telephone message left for Cramer’s attorney on Saturday wasn’t immediately returned.
Cramer’s brother, Jon Cramer, told police his brother was a former methamphetamine addict who had been “doctor shopping” for a physician who would provide him with Adderall.
Jeremy Cramer was arrested July 8 after a convenience store clerk in Anaconda discovered him in the restroom, washing blood from his clothes.
His wife, Nataliya, had told Lacey police earlier in the day that her husband had taken their son and had not responded to phone calls and text messages.
Cramer called his father after he was arrested and told him in the recorded call that he had run out of gas and started walking down the rural road with his son on his shoulders, according to prosecutors.
Authorities say the boy’s body was found the next morning near Cramer’s abandoned truck about 5 miles southeast of Anaconda. The boy had been beaten and stabbed, authorities say.
A partial transcript of the phone call says Cramer told his father he killed his son and he didn’t know why. He asked, “`Why did I take all my pills?”‘ according to the transcript.
Prosecutors in October said they didn’t plan to seek the death penalty.
