Days before his 17th birthday, Adam Bartosic shot and killed his father’s live-in girlfriend’s son in their Columbia County home after what may have been months of planning, state police allege.
The Sept. 18 shooting of Carter J. Conklin, 17, followed behavior that included Bartosic, who has autism, roaming their home in Pine Twp. unable to sleep and searching for ways to kill on the internet, according to an arrest affidavit.
About a week before the shooting, Conklin’s mother, Marcia Roberts, asked her boyfriend, Aaron Bartosic, to get his son help because the boy became aggressive with her, according to the affidavit.
“Adam scared her when he approached her chest to chest while they were in the kitchen with his fists clenched,” state Trooper Orlando Diaz wrote in the affidavit. “She stated Adam has told her he hates her and her children and that he did not want to live with them.”
Police charged Adam Bartosic on Monday afternoon with a single count of criminal homicide, according to the affidavit. Bartosic turned 17 on Tuesday.
He denied shooting Conklin when his father and police asked him, but police found evidence about planning killings on his cell phone, according to the affidavit.
Early morning emergency call
An emergency call about 7:50 a.m. Thursday brought police and an ambulance to the home. Police said Bartosic’s father found Conklin bleeding from an ear shortly before that time.
It was unclear from the affidavit who called, but police said a neighbor told them she believed she heard shots around 12:30 a.m.
Roberts told police Aaron Bartosic had trouble getting his son to go to school and about the boy’s “sleeping troubles” and late-night roaming. That morning, around the time of the shooting, Adam walked several times by the bedroom where Roberts and his father slept.
“She asked if Adam needed to wake Aaron up and he responded ‘no,’” Diaz wrote in the affidavit.
Conklin slept in a basement bedroom. Roberts said her son and Adam Bartosic had no “known issues,” but recalled Adam was upset when Conklin took his seat on the school bus.
Aaron Bartosic told police he slept through the night, but his son woke him up about 5:30 a.m. He made breakfast for the children.
As his son and Conklin’s 8-year-old sister headed out to wait for the school bus, Aaron Bartosic noticed Conklin wasn’t with them.
“Aaron stated that he ran out to the bus and asked Adam if he did anything to hurt (Conklin), and Adam told him that he did not,” Diaz wrote in the affidavit.
He also told police his son, a junior special education student at Millville High School, acted panicky recently about going to school, but Roberts said he acted normally the morning of the shooting.
“She found it (the boy’s behavior) strange, however,” Diaz wrote. “Adam got dressed himself and made it to the bus for the first time that week.”
The teen did not like Marcia Roberts or her daughter, but seemed to get along with Conklin, Aaron Bartosic said.
Police: Teen denied shooting
In an interview with police, Adam Bartosic denied shooting Conklin, going to the basement or getting a gun out of his father’s gun safe.
He confirmed he did not like Roberts or her daughter, but said he got along with Conklin. He said he last saw Conklin at dinner the night before, but confirmed walking by the bedroom where his father and Roberts slept.
Police found the suspected murder weapon — a 300 Blackout rifle — in the gun safe still loaded, even though Aaron Bartosic told them he never stored guns still loaded. Aaron Bartosic said he had found the safe’s batteries dead the last time he tried to get inside and had to use a key.
Adam Bartosic said he may have tried to get into the safe years earlier by punching in a code to see photographs his father stored inside, but denied doing that on the night of the shooting.
Mostly, he said, he just played video games on his phone.
Troopers: Evidence found on phone
Police found what they consider incriminating evidence on that phone.
A March 15 note to himself said, “Make sure to learn how to load and fire a gun between March 17 to March 19.”
May 16 internet searches showed, “how to kill someone without getting caught” and “how many countries have the death penalty.”
The phone also contained “numerous videos and photographs with depictions of death and violence,” according to the affidavit.
Bartosic is in the county prison without bail, according to county records. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Oct. 6.
