Ryan Grantham, an actor on "Riverdale," was given a life sentence for killing his mother.
According to CBC, Canadian actor Ryan Grantham, whose roles have appeared in "Riverdale," "Diary of a Wimpy Kid," and "Supernatural," has been given a life sentence with a 14-year parole ineligibility period for the second-degree murder of his mother.
In March 2020, the actor shot his mom, Barbara Waite, in the back of the head with a .22 rifle as she played piano in their home in Squamish, British Columbia. Grantham then recorded a GoPro video shortly after the murder, which was later played in court, in which he confesses to killing his mother and displays her body. The next day, he draped a sheet over the body, ringed it with lit candles, and hung a rosary from the piano before loading a car with Molotov cocktails, firearms, and ammo and heading east to Ottawa. His goal was to assassinate Justin Trudeau, the prime minister. Instead, with plans to carry out a mass massacre at Simon Fraser University, where he was enrolled, or on the Lions Gate Bridge, he drove to Hope, British Columbia. He ultimately made the decision to surrender himself at the East Vancouver location of the Vancouver Police Department.
In her victim impact statement, British Columbia Supreme Court Justice Kathleen Ker referred to the case as "tragic" and "heartbreaking" after hearing Grantham's sister speak at the trial. The judge referred to Grantham's decision to turn himself in and refrain from committing a mass murder as a “saving grace.”
In Canada, a conviction for second-degree murder carries a mandatory life sentence, thus the question was how long Grantham would have to serve before he could ask for parole.
With roles in "iZombie," "Unspeakable," "Way of the Wicked," "Riese," and "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus," Grantham made his acting debut at the age of nine.
