Son's alleged plan to kill dad revealed in court documents

Brian K. Carson never saw it coming.

His son crafted a plan to kill him, drove up from Mississippi with two young friends and ambushed him the second he stepped into his Elkhorn-area home, Omaha police allege in court documents unsealed Friday.

Brian Carson, left, and Ryan Carson

Perhaps through a stroke of luck — or poor planning — Carson was the only victim April 4.

Omaha police say in court documents that Carson's son, Ryan, and two Mississippi friends had talked about killing three others living in Brian Carson's mobile home — perhaps to make it look like a botched drug deal.

However, that plan changed when Ryan Carson found out Brian Carson was at his split-entry home in the Ramblewood neighborhood near 211th Street and West Maple Road.

The allegations were revealed Friday as Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine increased the charge against Ryan Carson, 19, from second- to first-degree murder.

After initially charging him with second-degree murder, Kleine said he reviewed additional investigative reports and accomplice statements and determined that Brian Carson's death was the result of a premeditated act.

Ryan Carson's attorney, Douglas County Public Defender Tom Riley, declined to comment.

The amended charge is the latest twist in a case that has grown both in number of defendants and in sordid allegations since Brian Carson's body was found in a car trunk April 5.

Authorities have not disclosed a motive, but court documents and relatives indicate that Ryan Carson was angered that his father had sex with his girlfriend and that his dad allegedly beat up his mom during an argument over that relationship.

Ryan Carson and the seven others charged in connection with Brian Carson's death face a preliminary hearing Tuesday.

Several members of Brian Carson's immediate family are charged in connection with his death: his son, Ryan, with first-degree murder; his daughter, Sara, with conspiracy to commit murder; and his estranged wife, Teresa, with being an accessory to murder.

Kleine said Sara Carson called her dad and lured him to the home where Ryan Carson was lying in wait. Teresa Carson is accused of helping hide evidence and of not being forthright about what she knew — accusations she denies.

According to the affidavit of Omaha police detective Chris Gordon:

Ryan Carson, 19, Ryan King, 17, and Colton Novascone, 16, drove a Jeep Cherokee from Byhalia, Miss., to Omaha.

On Saturday, April 4, Sara Carson and her boyfriend, Joshua Gilmore-Dornacker, picked up the three in a parking lot at 156th Street and West Dodge Road.

Gilmore-Dornacker told police that he overheard "parts of a conversation" in which the three young men were "devising a plan to kill Brian Carson."

King told two Omaha police detectives that he "came to Omaha with Carson and Novascone with the intent to kill Brian Carson and three other individuals at a trailer."

Neither authorities nor the affidavit specifies the names of the three others.

After finding out that his dad wouldn't be at the mobile home, the affidavit says, "Ryan Carson changed the initial plan."

King told Omaha police that he, Novascone and Ryan Carson went to the Ramblewood home at 4024 N. 211th St.

Ryan Carson lurked in a hallway, waiting for his dad to arrive.

When Brian Carson entered the house through the door from the garage, Ryan Carson jumped him, punching him in the face. The two fell to the floor.

As the two struggled, Ryan Carson called for help from his Mississippi friends.

One of the friends hit Brian Carson with a wrench in the head three times, breaking open his head and causing profuse bleeding.

Ryan Carson continued to beat his dad.

After Brian Carson died, the Mississippi friends tried to clean up the carpet.

Later, Teresa Carson found that a piece of red-stained carpet had been cut out in the basement.

She also found a shovel that had been outside but was now in her laundry room.

An autopsy found that Brian Carson died of blunt-force trauma to the head.

King and Novascone drove back to Mississippi — leaving Ryan Carson and others to dispose of Brian Carson's body.

King and Novascone are charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.

King told detectives he was supposed to help attack Brian Carson but got scared and didn't.

Novascone, meanwhile, confirmed driving up from Mississippi, meeting in the parking lot and driving to Brian Carson's Ramblewood home.

However, the affidavit says, Novascone made "no admission regarding his part in the murder of Brian Carson."

An attorney for Novascone declined to comment Friday. King's attorney did not return phone calls.

• Contact the writer: 444-1275, todd.cooper@owh.com