Jacob Langworthy’s grandmother found him unconscious on the floor of his home in Levy County, Florida. Berny Serrano had just moments beforehand fire a single gunshot into the back of his head.
Within 5 days, 5 teenagers had been arrested, originally all of them were charged with the murder of Langworthy, however, 4 of them later received the lesser conviction of manslaughter. The fifth teenager, Berny Serrano, was convicted of first-degree murder of Langworthy.
Berny Serrano, along with Courtney Grant, Kenny Gross, Michael Hill, and Theophilus Lee had gone to Langworthy’s rural home with the intention of robbing him for drugs and money, they had telephoned the house beforehand to make sure Jacob would be at the property when they arrived.
Serrano had a firearm in his possession which he had taken earlier from his stepfather. They ransacked the house and demanded Langworthy hand over money and drugs. When he refused they instead stole some CDs, a cellphone and an X-Box controller.
The crime was interrupted when Langworthy’s grandmother, Phyllis McCallum, pulled up in her car outside the home, she witnessed Grant, Gross and Lee flee the scene. At this point, Serrano shot Langworthy execution-style in the back of the head. McCallum ran inside to find her fatally injured grandson and saw Serrano as he ran out the back door.
Serrano had only been in the area for a few months having moved there with his parents from New York. The other 4 teenagers had lived in this rural area their whole lives and were athletes at the local high school.
Serrano convicted of first-degree murder with a firearm, conspiracy to commit home invasion robbery while armed with a firearm, and home invasion robbery with a firearm. He was sentenced to 2 life terms with another 15 years added. He avoided the death penalty has he was classed a minor at the time of the murder.
Watch the Latest on our YouTube ChannelSerrano has appealed against the severity of his sentence, and a change.org fund has been established by Beatriz Serrano in an attempt to secure a lighter sentence for him.
The murder features tonight in Shattered at 10/9c on Investigation Discovery.
I applaud the victim’s grandmother for her honesty and courage. When asked to
share her sentiments about the 5 criminals, her comments were consistent with most rational people. Instead of going PC by praying for their forgiveness, she emphatically desires an “eye for an eye”. Of course the criminals’ family members, especially their mothers, stopped short of acknowledging their sons’ culpability. And inevitably pulled the racism card, a tactic frequently used to garner sympathy for the criminal, deflect accountability, distract from the heinousness of the crime, and avoid taking personal responsibility. Parents, guardians, and community leaders who value the advancement of individuals and society understand the importance of holding people accountable and facing consequences.
As I sympathise with the victims family,those poor boys were guilty of theft not murder.Granny seems to be in abit of deniel also,what about the families of the victims of drugs which her grandson was supplying, Not saying he deserved the bullet ,but to live with that much hate and blind sited making out he was an angel,sorry dosent sit well one bit.Those police were completely playing the race card,as many unfair justice trials over in America.Take 4 good characters into prison,what are you creating.
I hope the boys stayed on the straight and narrow
Bad choice but not murderes
You cannot even spell denial. They are ALL CULPABLE.
All 4 of the “boys” involved are back in prison. Lee went back for the same exact thing, armed burglary and murder now. Two of them went back for drugs, and one of them is a pedophile. They may not have pulled the trigger, but maybe keeping Lee in longer could have prevented yet another murder.
So who is the pedophile? I heard nothing about any of them going back to prison?
They should all get the chair! No sympathy here!