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N.H. father of accused teen says his heart aches for victims

E-mail|Link|Comments () October 6, 2009 05:43 PM

By John R. Ellement and Andrew Ryan , Globe Staff

AMHERST, N.H. -- James Marks emitted a distinct whistle today as police escorted his handcuffed son out of Milford District Court, a call the father once used to get his boy's attention on the T-ball diamond. The slight 18-year-old recognized the whistle as he was being led away, and William Marks turned back to look at his father.

William Marks, 18. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)

James Marks had not seen his son since Monday, when police took him into custody in connection with a violent home invasion in Mont Vernon that left a mother dead and her 11-year-old daughter severely wounded. James tried to visit his son at the State Police barracks in Amherst, but a trooper told him that the teen was too embarrassed to show his face.

"He told me my son was being really cooperative," the father said. "And he told me he was really ashamed of what happened."

In an interview near his home today in Amherst, James Marks spoke in stark, matter-of-fact terms about past struggles with his son's behavior. The out-of-work pressman described grounding his son from using the car when he rebelled and their battles over curfew. He worried that his son was a follower who had fallen under the spell of Steven Spader, 17, the teen accused of driving the car to the victim's home Sunday and using a machete. Spader acted as if he was the leader of a gang, James Marks said, and his son followed.

"I know Stevie," he said. "And I rue the day that I ever met Stevie."

Spader's parents live in a well-to-do subdivision in Brookline, N.H., and told a reporter who knocked on their door to get off their property. Spader and Christopher Gribble, 19, have been charged with murder and attempted murder.

William Marks and Quinn Glover, 17, are both accused of taking part in the break-in at the isolated ranch-style home, but they have not been charged with taking part in the killing. James Marks tried today to describe the heartache and sympathy he felt for the family of the victim, 42-year-old Kim Cates.

"What do you say to somebody like that? Do you say I'm sorry for your loss?" he asked. "But it wasn't a loss. It was stolen. And that's a big difference. My heart goes out to them."

He said he has heard through his son's friends that William Marks and Glover remained in the basement while the other two teens attacked the woman and her daughter. William Marks and Glover have both been charged with burglary, conspiracy, and armed robbery.

The time line began Friday night. James Marks said Spader was at his home in Amherst and showed him a folding knife with a blade that was about 4 inches long. It was the first time he had seen Spader with a knife, he said, and he told him he should not have it.

The teens gathered at the Marks' home again on Saturday night. The group included Spader, Glover, some young women, and William Marks and his girlfriend, according to the father. Spader, Glover, and the young women left at 8:30 p.m.

At 10 p.m., William Marks left in his black 1993 Toyota to drive to his girlfriend's home to Milford, N.H. The father said he told his son to be back home in an hour.

When William did not return by 11 p.m., his father said, he began sending him text messages. He said he sent his son 15 text message over the next five hours and did not hear back until 4:10 a.m., when his son told him he was on the way home. Authorities have said the attackers broke into the Cates home about 4 a.m.

William Marks walked back into his father's home in Amherst at 4:30 a.m. James Marks said he was sitting on the couch as his son walked by nonchalantly on the way to his room.

"He didn't really say anything," he said. "I said, 'Where have you been?' He said, 'Out.' He didn't seem upset or flustered or anything."

He would not learn that his son had been accused of a crime until Monday afternoon, when State Police came to their home in Amherst and impounded his black Toyota.