Such Good Boys: The True Story of a Mother, Two Sons and a Horrifying Murder

Written by Tina Dirmann

Narrated by Gabra Zackman

An Abusive Mother

Raised in the suburb of Riverside, California, twenty-year-old college student Jason Bautista endured for years his emotionally disturbed mother's verbal and psychological abuse. She even locked him out of the house, tied him up with electrical cord, and on one occasion, gave him a beating that sent him to the emergency room.

A Son's Revenge

On the night of January 14, 2003, Jason strangled his mother. To keep authorities from identifying her body, he chopped off her head and hands, an idea he claimed he got from watching an episode of the hit TV series The Sopranos. Jason's fifteen-year-old half brother, Matthew, would later testify in court that he sat in another room in the house with the TV volume turned up while Jason murdered their mother.

A Crime That Would Bond Two Brothers

The morning following the murder, Matthew went to school, and Jason returned to his classes at Cal State San Bernardino. When authorities zeroed in on them, Jason lied and said that his mother had run off with a boyfriend she'd met on the Internet. But when police confronted the boys with overwhelming evidence, Jason confessed all. Now the nightmare was only just beginning for him . . .

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Oct 4, 2016
• ISBN: 9781515982357

Tina Dirmann

Tina Dirmann is a reporter for US Weekly Magazine and has worked also for The Los Angeles Times.

Reviews for Such Good Boys

[marlene9nl · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

on Tuesday, September 16, 2008 I wrote about this book:

Just finished it a few seconds ago (It is Tuesday September 16-2008 12.44.)

Quick read but what a sad case. You could feel that the author sided with the 2 boys. She was looking for excuses for both of them, but especially for Jason. Not that it did bother me.
All in all a good read. 8.5

[justablondemoment · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

True Crime books are often hard to read as they sometimes are just facts slapped on paper and tend to be boring. This account of a very interesting case was easy to read and got me emotionally attached to the story. Those kids lived through hell, there is no denying it. Still, murder is murder, but in this case, it seemed possible to me that it might very well of started out as a self-defense crime and turned into over the top blind rage from one who had been pushed too far for many years. Abuse emotional and physical can do that to you. Just make you snap one day. It would have been a hard case to be a juror on.