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Burt Templet was the victim in the murder made famous by docuseries “I Just Killed My Dad.” Templet lived a secret life that was only revealed once he was shot to death by his 17-year-old son, Anthony Templet.
The Baton Rouge, Louisiana teen called 911 and told a dispatcher he had just killed his father. Soon the teen was in handcuffs, struggling to explain exactly how the life he’d led became dangerous enough for him to pull the trigger against his own father.
The three-part docuseries was released August 9, 2022 on Netflix.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Burt Templet’s Obituary Says He Died Due to ‘A Tragic Case of Domestic Violence That Ended Very Badly’
Until its final sentence, Burt Templet’s obituary was succinct and followed the standard template. It listed his surviving and predeceased family members, including his son, Anthony Templet, and his wife, Susan Templet. It says he died at age 53 at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge June 6, 2019.
It says:
Burt Anthony Templet passed away Thursday, June 6, 2019 at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge at the age of 53. He was a resident of Baton Rouge and native of Plaquemine. He is survived by his wife, Susan Wilson Templet; mother, Carolyn A. Templet; son, Anthony Templet; stepson, Peyton Mannino; brother and sister-in-law, Troy and Sheila Templet; niece, aunts, uncles and cousins. He was preceded in death by his father, William J. Templet.
Only the last line hints at the strange circumstances surrounding his death.
“Please make donations to help with the final expenses for a tragic case of domestic violence, that ended very badly,” it concludes.
His memorial on Find a Grave says he was buried at Resthaven Gardens of Memory and Mausoleum in East Baton Rouge Parish.
2. Burt Templet Told His Wife, Susan Templet, He Would ‘Cut Her Into Little Pieces,’ According to Court Documents
Susan Templet was Burt Templet’s estranged wife and Anthony Templet’s stepmom at the time of the man’s death in June 2019. She left him after a serious instance of domestic violence, she explained on the show. Court documents reviewed by WAFB detail the abuse she suffered.
The 55-page protective order says that on December 20, 2018, he shattered one of her teeth when he punched her. While she was trying to clean the blood off her face, he splashed water on her and threatened to “cut her into little pieces,” according to WAFB.
About one week before that, she wrote in court paperwork that Burt Templet punched her in the face, causing her left eye to bleed. He then threw her wedding ring against the wall and made her pick it up, she wrote.
3. Netasha, Anthony Templet’s Half-Sister, Said the Burt Templet Would Beat Their Mother While Holding Her Baby Brother
Anthony Templet’s mother and half-sister were elated, then distraught, after hearing the missing boy had been found, they said on the show. They considered him a missing person after Burt Templet gained sole custody of the boy at age 5 and had police take him from their home in Texas, then moved to Louisiana. Templet’s mom, Teresa Thompson, and sister, Netasha Thompson, did not hear from him again until they received a phone call saying he was in jail for the murder of his father.
“After 11 years of waiting to hear if my brother was still alive, he is found,” the sister said. “He has been secluded and abused all these years by his own father. My brave brother had to defend himself for the last time against that evil man.”
Netasha Thompson told the news station that her mom and Burt Templet were in a relationship for about 10 years. She categorized it as “extremely violent.”
“I can only imagine what Anthony’s been through,” she told the news station. “When he was a baby, Burt would hold him in his arms while abusing my mother.”
4. Neighbors & Relatives Categorized Burt Templet as ‘Odd’ or Said They Hardly Knew Him
Neighbors and relatives who were interviewed on “I Just Killed My Dad” said that they did not know Templet well. Very few people in his neighborhood knew any basic information about him, they said on the show.
“He was odd. He was definitely odd,” one relative told interviewers.
That strange behavior was dangerous and even life-threatening for those who lived with him, according to his wife and stepson. Susan Templet and Peyton Mannino described the toxic and abusive living environment they experienced with Burt Templet. They were constantly watched on cameras and through other tracking devices. Susan Templet said her husband received notifications on his phone that her car engine had stopped.
Mannino said on the show that living with Burt Templet was like living “in hell.”
5. Anthony Templet Endured ‘Torture’ at the Hands of Templet, His Attorney Said
One of Anthony Templet’s attorneys, Franz Borghardt, told WAFB that the abuse the teen suffered was tantamount to “torture.”
“I think that in many ways, it will collaborate what our client has received in terms of abuse, and although it was a different kind of controlling situation, a different, and I’ll use the word torture, different kind of relationship, but this is a violent man,” Borghardt told the news station. “That’s what’s important here, is this is not a saint. He is a violent man and her abuse echoes the abuse that our client received as a child.”
Borghardt did not appear on the documentary, but represented Templet with Jarrett Ambeau. Ambeau told the news station his client’s childhood set the stage for the murder.
“You know, was this kid set up for this kind of behavior? Was this an inevitable act from this young man given the history of abuse, the systematic and lifelong abuse that he had endured at the hands of his father?” Ambeau asked.