15-year-old arrested on suspicion of murdering adoptive parents
A TEENAGE boy has been arrested on suspicion of murdering his adoptive parents after reportedly rowing with them over how much time he was spending at an Occupy protest camp.
The bodies of civil servants Robert Kamin, 55, and Susan Poff, 50, were found under blankets in a parked car outside their home in Oakland, California. They had been strangled. Police believe someone then tried to set light to the car which was charred.
Friends and relatives said the couple had worked tirelessly for the poor, and adopted because they wanted to give a disadvantaged child help.
Their adopted son enjoyed karate, became a black belt, and played violent video games.
Mr Kamin, who graduated from Stanford University, was a clinical psychologist working with prison inmates in San Francisco jails, and Berkeley graduate Miss Poff was a doctor's assistant who worked with the homeless. They adopted their son from foster care nearly a decade ago.
Police first went to their home on Friday afternoon after a colleague reported that one of them had not turned up for work. Officers spoke with the boy but found nothing untoward.
When they received another call from the suspicious colleague six hours later police returned and found the bodies.
Colleagues told the San Francisco Chronicle that the couple had been having some difficulties with their son, and some of that was to do with him spending too much time at the Occupy Oakland encampment.
Oakland has been a flashpoint in the nationwide series of Occupy protests.
At the weekend almost 400 people were arrested during a series protest actions that included one group breaking into City Hall.
Joshua Bamberger, medical director of the San Francisco public health agency where Miss Poff worked, told the San Jose Mercury News: "It's a terrible loss. I've never met anyone who lived with as little ambivalence about making the world a better place.
"She was one of the most loving, heartfelt, solid and wise persons who ever cared for people living in poverty."
- Nick Allen
© Telegraph.co.uk
