A Colorado man confessed this weekend to killing two teen boys who he said were out to blackmail him using video footage of him asking them for sex.
William Dean Otto, 43, pointed police to the bodies of Danny Espinosa-Gamboa and Jonathan Gonzalez, both aged 16, buried in shallow graves near the South Platte River in Northeastern Colorado.
Otto told police the boys came to his house with footage of him propositioning one of them for sex. They threatened to blackmail Otto with the video and he said he shot them when, after he refused to pay them each $10,000, one of the victims brandished a butcher knife at him.
Slain: William Dean Otto admits to killing Danny Espinosa-Gamboa (left) and Jonathan Gonzalez (right), both aged 16, on Friday. Otto claims the boys tried to blackmail him with video footage of the 43-year-old propositioning them for sex
Adams County Sheriff department spokesman Sergeant Terrance O’Neill told the Denver Post that Otto was arrested Sunday.
When police followed his directions to the rural edges of Colorado near the Nebraska border, they found bodies.
The families of Espinosa-Gamboa and Gonazalez identified the boys as the victims Monday evening.
Otto apparently owns two homes in the Centenial State.
He told authorities the two boys arrived at his home in unincorporated Adams County, east of Denver, early on Friday and demanded $10,000 each or else they would expose him for propositioning and inappropriately touching one of them.
Otto said that after he refused, one of the teens procured a knife from the kitchen. When he threatened Otto with the weapon, Otto shot them both dead with a .22 caliber rifle.
He said he then wrapped the bodies in blankets and plastic and drove toward his other home in the far northeast corner of the state, in Sedgwick County.
At some point, he doused the corpses in gasoline and set them ablaze before burying them in shallow graves near the South Platte River.
The boys were reported missing by Saturday evening.
According to neighbor Rob McClary, Otto grew up in rural Sedgwick home along with a sister.
The home may also have been where he first met the boys he ultimately killed.
McClary said that Otto had, in recent years, hosted many parties for teenagers at the farm home.
‘They said they were related to Billy when we asked how they knew him,’ McClary told the Denver Post.
A boy interviewed by 9News said Otto’s Adams County home was also ‘a kick back spot’ for teens and that Otto would often offer them beer.
McClary, who knew Otto for many years, said he was shocked by the revelations about his old neighbor, who now faces two counts of murder in the first degree.
‘He was always very nice,’ said McClary. ‘Very polite.’
