Accused Teen Murderer Claims They Were Buying Crack from 88-Year-Old WWII Vet Delbert Belton

One of the two teenagers charged with murdering a World War II veteran is reportedly claiming they were buying crack cocaine from the 88-year-old man when the exchange turned violent, according to NBC News.

Police in Spokane, Wash. said there is no evidence to support the drug claim.

Prosecutors said in court Tuesday that police found a letter Kenan Adams-Kinard wrote to his mother reportedly claiming they beat and robbed Delbert “Shorty” Belton because he stiffed them in the crack sale, The Spokesman-Review reported. Adams-Kinard, 16, was making his first court appearance since he was arrested on first-degree murder and first-degree robbery charges Monday.

Kenan Adams-Kinard

“There’s absolutely no truth to that whatsoever,” Belton’s nephew Ian Day told the newspaper after court. “By saying these things they’ve brought darkness upon themselves.”

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According to NBC, police seized a letter that claimed the teens bought a “zip of crack cocaine from Shorty” and then “proceeded to sock him.”

A court document said the letter stated, “I took his wallet and another ounce of crack from his pockets” and then “he was unconscious so I made sure he was still breathing, and then I took off.”

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Police say Adams-Kinard and Demetruis Glenn, also 16, brutally beat Belton in an Eagles Lodge parking lot last week where Belton was waiting for a friend. {snip}

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Natalie Flom, whom Belton was waiting for the night of the attack, told The Spokesman-Review she could barely convince Belton to take his blood pressure medication, let alone crack cocaine.

“That is just hilarious,” she told the newspaper. “I can’t even believe they went there.”