An El Paso man allegedly wrote a book detailing the killing of his mother, confessing to fatally choking her and staging the murder to look like an accident.
El Paso Police Department officers arrested Richard Praytor, 49, on Monday, Sept. 28, in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on suspicion of murder in connection with the death of his mother, Maria Enoe Praytor, 79, El Paso police spokeswoman Detective Judy Oviedo said in a news release.
Officers found Maria Praytor dead under a car on June 20, 2023, inside a garage at a home in the 4500 block of Sky Hawk Avenue in the Castner Heights neighborhood in Northeast El Paso. Police believe Praytor killed his mother on June 19, 2023.
No attorney is named in court records for Praytor.
El Paso mother found 'squished' under car
The more-than-three-year-long
investigation began when officers met with Praytor at the house as his mother's body was under a 2019 White Nissan Sentra.
Praytor told officers that he woke up at 4 a.m. to drive to Colorado Springs for a child custody court hearing. He claimed he walked into the garage and saw his mother's legs under the car.
He walked toward the car and saw his mother's head "squished," a criminal complaint affidavit states. Praytor added that he panicked, saw the car in neutral, and pushed it off his mother.
He described a gruesome sight of finding his mother with "no signs of life and blood everywhere."
Praytor called 911. The operator told him to perform compressions on his mother, but he did not because she was already dead, the affidavit states.
Officers placed brown paper bags on Praytor's hands because he had suspected blood from his mother on him.
The El Paso County Medical Examiner's Office performed an autopsy on the mother. The medical examiner found the cause of death was multiple blunt force injuries. The examiner ruled "the manner of death to be accident," the affidavit states.
El Paso murder suspect allegedly wrote book about the killing
Suffolk County (New York) Police Department officers reported to the El Paso police on Aug. 27, that a woman told them about two weeks earlier that she had information on a murder in El Paso.
The woman said she and Praytor met on Facebook. He allegedly confessed to her that he had killed his mother in El Paso in 2023. The woman provided "specific details concerning the incident that had not been released to the public and would not have been known to the general public," the affidavit states.
Two El Paso detectives flew out on Sept. 1 to Long Island, New York, to question the woman. They met the woman the next day at the Suffolk County Police Department. She told them that Praytor allegedly confessed to her about how he killed his mother, the affidavit states.
The woman called the El Paso detectives to report that Praytor called her on Sept. 9, and confessed to the killing again, the affidavit states. The woman recorded the call and was told to give it to Suffolk County officers.
She added that Praytor also told her he "wrote his own book on how he killed his own mother and that he had it saved on his personal computer," the affidavit states.
El Paso detectives received the recording that provides more information on the alleged killing.
Praytor is heard saying "how he had to do the best acting of his life when officers arrived," the affidavit states.
He said that he was "in shock and very emotional because of what he did." But he allegedly added that he knew there were cameras in the police patrol vehicle he was placed in, so he "began to say stuff like 'what the fuck is going on' and 'how did you end up underneath the car' so that he could start building his alibi," the affidavit states.
He also said he "messed with the blood on the scene and put blood on his hands on purpose to mess up the crime scene," the affidavit states. Praytor allegedly told the woman that he took off his and his mother's clothing that were full of blood, put the clothes in a trash bag, and threw the bag in a nearby dumpster.
Praytor allegedly added that he went back to the garage and started to "set up the scene." He continued saying that he "made it seem like the car had run over (his mother's) head so that police could not tell that he had previously choked her until she was no longer alive," the affidavit states.
He claimed he told another person about the murder and tried to tell a priest. He did not confess to police because "nothing would be done since (his mother's) death was already considered an accident," the affidavit states.
Praytor told the woman he wrote the book titled "June 19th" on his computer about the murder in a"way to help him confess," the affidavit states. June 19 is the day police believe the mother was killed.
The El Paso detectives and Colorado Springs Police Department officers obtained a search warrant for a La Quinta Inn room in Colorado. They found Praytor in the hotel room and asked whether he would speak to them voluntarily.
He replied, "yes." The officers took Praytor to the Colorado Springs Police Department for questioning.
El Paso murder suspect allegedly confesses to police
Praytor allegedly said he killed his mother on June 19, 2023, because she was "sick and he neededto get back to his kids in Colorado Springs."
He approached his mother from behind in the kitchen and placed her in a chokehold until she passed out, the affidavit states. Praytor allegedly added that he dragged her to the garage when he noticed she was still alive.
Praytor pinched her nose, covered her mouth, got on top of her and counted to 100, the affidavit states. After throwing away his and her clothing, he allegedly told police that he placed her head under the front left tire of the vehicle.
He turned on the vehicle, put it in neutral and let the vehicle roll back on to his mother's head, the affidavit states.
Praytor also said that he has a file on his personal computer titled "June 19th" where he wrote specific details about how he murdered his mother, the affidavit concludes.
He was brought back to El Paso and booked into the county jail on Monday, Sept. 28, on suspicion of murder. Praytor remains jailed on a $1 million bond as of Thursday, Oct. 1.
Aaron Martinez covers the criminal justice system for the El Paso Times. He may be reached at amartinez1@elpasotimes.com.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: El Paso man wrote book detailing how he killed his mother, police say
