George Weber Murder Confession: 16-Year Old Admits Drugged-Up Sex Romp Gone Awry

NEW YORK — A teenager with a Web site describing him as a sadomasochist and featuring photos of a knife collection was arrested Wednesday in the stabbing death of a veteran New York City radio reporter he met on the Internet.

Police officials said that John Katehis, 16, confessed to killing George Weber shortly after being taken into custody late Tuesday in Middletown, N.Y., where he was hiding out at a friend's home.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said at a news conference Wednesday that the meeting between the suspect and Weber, 47, involved "an exchange of money."

A law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity because charges were still being drawn up, later said the suspect claimed Weber had offered him $60 to have rough sex.

Police found Weber's bound body Sunday in the bedroom of this Brooklyn apartment after his boss reported him missing. He had been stabbed at least 50 times and bound at the ankles with duct tape.

A name for the Queens teenager's attorney was not immediately available.

On a MySpace page, Katehis has posted a series of photos with various knives, one with the caption, "Love this blade." He describes himself as "a very easy person to talk to," but also as "an Extremist, an Anarchist and a Sadomasochist."

He cautions, "As long as you show respect for me i will show respect for you, if you disrespect me, then i will ... break your neck."

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Weber had his first contact with Katehis on Craigslist sometime last week before the pair arranged a meeting, Kelly said.

A witness told investigators he spotted Katehis on a cell phone outside Weber's apartment around 6 p.m. Friday, about the time police believe the suspect was let inside. Police believe that once there, he stabbed Weber in the neck, chest and back; the victim also had stab wounds on his hands, indicating he tried to fight back.

The teen fled after exchanging his bloodstained clothing for some of the victim's clothes, police said. A transit worker later spotted him on a subway train bleeding from his left hand and notified police.

Police said Katehis claimed the wound was caused by a bottle; he was treated at a hospital and released. Following tips, investigators later located him in Middletown, where he was captured outside a bus station.

The suspect was carrying a dagger, police added, though it was not believed to be the murder weapon.

Weber worked for WABC for 12 years as the on-air reporter for popular shows like "Curtis and Kuby." The station let him go amid programming changes last year, and he had since worked as a freelancer for ABC News Radio, the national network.

In a statement on Wednesday, the network's general manager, Steve Jones, thanked police, adding, "Our thoughts continue to be with George's family."

Comments

[Okieborn]

How Sad For The Victims Family !!!!

[slaxx]

who knows what the kid's motive was. he was obvioulsy a sociopath; maybe he targeted weber because he was gay, maybe because he was willing to meet with an underage boy (who knows what info. they told each other), maybe he wanted to steal from him.

meeting people over the internet is risky business.

[TakLoufer]

Oh please, this was a middle-aged man hiring an teen-aged punk for rough sex. Unless the kid misrepresented himself as an adult, Weber foolishly brought this on himself. I'm sure that there are plenty of safe-sex outlets for the NYC S&M crowd a minor celeb like Weber could have availed himself of, but no, he had to go and rent a twink off Craig's. What a loser.

[Myview2751]

Weber did not deserve to be murdered! His sexual preferences should not be the issue! A human being was viciously murdered ! I am outraged ! Weber was stabbed over 50 times! Should Weber have exercised better jugement? Of course! However, I refuse to victimize the victim again!
Is there a possibility that his killer will be charged as a juvenile? If so, concerned citizens everywhere should protest their outrage! This Killer should never be released to live amongst human beings!

[brooklyncitizen]

it isn't about sexual preference it is about being stupid.Web­er lived in Brooklyn/NYC for god's sake...it is safe to assume that he could hook up easily for his "preference" but this was risky behaviour and unfortunately it cost him his life.

[Steamboater]

Maybe this wouldn't have happened if Weber was out f the closet. I don't know if he was or not, but it sounds like he wasn't and therefore felt the need to go through Craiglist to satisfy his dark side. Those in the S&M community know there are safe ways to do these kinds of things and that you don't run off with just anyone and play.

[marxmarv]

Of course it all happened because of Craigslist, says the right-wing wire news agency.

[HC4BO]

OK Jake Tapper, take your job more seriously ...

[MountPanic]

"Police officials said that John Katehis, 16, confessed to killing George Weber shortly after being taken into custody late Tuesday in Middletown, N.Y., where he was hiding out at a friend's home."

He killed him after being taken into custody?

[sacrebleu]

But wait, there's more. The headline seems to imply that the victim confessed to his own murder.

[BroMan]

And was Weber 47 (article) or 50 (picture) ???

[NoSillyName]

That was my question. Another person in the "entertainment" business shaving off a few years?

[Loopy76]

"Police officials said that John Katehis, 16, CONFESSED to killing George Weber shortly after being taken into custody late Tuesday in Middletown, N.Y., where he was hiding out at a friend's home."

Reading 101: This states that he CONFESSED after being taken into custody.

[Clara Keller]

not so fast,...he confessed to killing george weber shortly after being taken into custody. You can emphasize the confession OR the killing (and subsequently the timing).

Read: "...confes­sed to KILLING George Weber SHORTLY AFTER being taken into custody,..­."

Poorly written piece by almost every measure. Sad, fascinating topic, though.

[PoliticalAmazon]

Misplaced modifiers are not only confusing.­...they are often entertaining.

Obviously, the "shortly after being taken into custody...­" should have been placed next to (i.e., before) what it modified: "confessed­."

[LiberalBuzz]

Rough way to go.

[TallyLass]

Sounds like an episode of to catch a predator, gone bad.

[Yve72]

I suspect this is a h.a.t.e crime.
He was probably searching Craig's List for g.ay men to target.

[slaxx]

could be.

[PoliticalAmazon]

I don't know where you would think he was searching Craiglist for a murder victim.

Weber is the one who placed the add. Weber is also the adult. When an adult solicits a minor for sex, the adult is a pedophile.

Katehis sounds like a very troubled young man, acting out in attention-seeking ways. If his first goal was murder, he would not have put up a website showing himself with all of his knives.

If Katehis were your son, and Weber had solicited him for sex, and your son ended up killing Katehis, would your first thought be "he was probbly searching Craig's list for g ay men to target"?

I don't think so. I think many people would think their son had been curious, found out what was involved, panicked, and attacked the pedophile to get away.

I don't know if any of the theories on why Katehis stabbed Weber are correct, but Weber was a pedophile, soliciting for sex on Craigslist.

[BlackYowe]

Kinda a Darwin award thing to this. George Weber was insane to hire someone off Craigslist for any kind of relationship let alone this.

[dianadavies]

Sure, blame the victim.

[JLRoberson]

Normally I would agree with you but:

>>On a MySpace page, Katehis has posted a series of photos with various knives, one with the caption, "Love this blade."

Suppose a woman went out with a man who introduced himself with this. While the predator is at fault for what he does because he chose to kill someone, there's something to be said for not putting yourself at completely obvious risk.

[BlackYowe]

Jump out of a plane without a parachute and you hit hard and you die and no one really is surprised you are dead. That is not blaming the victim. It's self distructive behavior.

[listentome]

Granted, murder was the case, but the kid is obviously crazed and the victim was a pedophile.

[PoliticalAmazon]

Weber wanted to have sex with a minor. Therefore, Weber was pedophile. It's not like he can go to bar and find chldren to have sex with.

Weber seems to be given a free pass for his pedophila. I am sure this is what ABC wants to happen, so they won't have to answer questions about it, but I think it also points to why the media seems to be bent on demonizing Katehis who, in the pedophilia, was the victim.

In the murder, Weber was the victim. But he was not innocent in what happened.

[bookon]

So who will do this story first... CSI:NY or Law & Order?

[kittygogogo]

Law & Order

[slaxx]

law and order SVU was the first thought that came to my mind.

maybe the kid watches it too.

[XCITIZEN]

Part 1 (Part 2 follows)

If you go to TMZ you can see the teenagers web page photos, posing with his collection of knives and daggers and swords, professing to be a sado-masochist, and a satanist. He also has a girlfriend. It's possible he was misrepresenting himself for the purpose of getting his hands on some money, and entirely possible he was planning to murder Weber.

You can also take a look at him, and see that he could have passed himself off as older: while he appears to be 'young' it's difficult to tell his age. Weber could have been deceived as to his age. He also apparently represented himself as an 18-year old on X-Tube, which is an amateur porn site where people post videos of themselves.

[XCITIZEN]

Ultimately, Weber offered him $60 for some kinky sex. That's not much different than what thousands of middle aged men do every night somewhere in America. What this kid did in return was murder him in cold blood, in a totally brutal way, stabbing him so many times that authorities could not even determine at first how many times he'd been stabbed.

So how again is Weber an 'abuser of underage minors?' It's very easy to let your prejudices leap to the front of your consciousness when commenting on this story. It is a grisly story. We all react with our first negative impression, whatever our biases are. But take a look at the combination of factors and you may find yourself wondering exactly who is the 'bad guy' in this, considering how it ended...

I'm not defending Weber, I have said elsewhere on this post that Weber was obviously spiraling into a dangerous secret life and is responsible for the situation he found himself in. But I am not going to paint Weber as some kind of evil sexual predator because his murderer was in a sex-for-money scene, had clearly misrepresented himself as 18 elsewhere on the web, had a propensity toward violence, was a total stranger, and happens to be not of legal age. The circumstances of the case are only slowly coming to light.

[Patriot68]

What the halibut? Wasn't this first reported as suspected suicide? I know I only glanced over the original story but I could swear it was reported as suicide. Someone help me out here.

[Yve72]

That's what I thought I heard.
Police purposely put out false information all the time.