Iowa teen charged in parents’ killings pleads not guilty

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A teenage boy charged with first-degree murder in the October slashing deaths of his parents in Cedar Rapids had pleaded not guilty. The Gazette reports that 17-year-old Ethan Alexander Orton entered the pleas in court documents filed Monday. Orton was charged after police called to his home around 2 a.m. Oct. 14 found him outside the home covered in blood. Police say he told officers he had killed his mother and father, and the officers found the bodies of 42-year-old Casey Orton and 41-year-old Misty Scott Slade inside. The teen reportedly told officers he killed his parents to “take charge of his life.”