Edmond Man Admits To Murder Of His Elderly Aunt

Karl Torp, News 9

EDMOND, Oklahoma -- The suspect arrested in the murder of his 89 year old aunt says he feared for his life.

On Saturday, 47-year-old Ronald Sparks first called 911 and told police his aunt had accidentally drowned in the bathtub.

5/13/2012 Related Story: Edmond Man Arrested After Elderly Woman's Body Found In Tub

Court documents obtained by News 9 show that investigators questioned Sparks again after finding bruises all over the woman's body along with blood inside the bathroom.

Sparks eventually admitted to the murder, saying his aunt was trying to kill him by putting something in his coffee.

Sparks then told police he choked his aunt by putting her in what he told investigators was a "Chinese death lock."

Court documents detail how Sparks put his aunt face first into the water filled bathtub and "kept his foot on her head until she stopped moving."

His arrest comes as a relief to neighbors who say Sparks would often scream random things from his home.

One neighbors say Sparks scared her hours before his arrest Saturday when he walked into her home very early in the morning unannounced.

"I didn't lock the door behind me and he walks in and sits on my bar stool. My friend was freaking out. I was freaking," says Chelsea White, who adds that Sparks soon left.

"It's very scary," says White, who said Sparks would leave pieces of candy on her car and inside her screen door.

"I thought he was crazy and probably for the most part harmless."