LAKELAND, FL -- The man accused of killing his 93-year-old father and then faking a home invasion was denied bond at his first court appearance Sunday morning.
63-year-old Robert Farley, the son of Walter Farley, first told Polk County detectives he returned home with his wife at 9:15am on New Year's Day and found that his home had been broken into and his dad had been shot and killed.
He told investigators that he and his wife had gone to the Red Rose Inn in Plant City to celebrate the holiday, and found Walter Farley's body when they returned home.
But detectives questioned that story, spent the night interviewing him, and now have charged him with homicide after finding inconsistencies in his story..
According to his arrest affidavit, Farly had been planning this murder for two months. Farley admitted to detectives that he left the Red Rose Inn on New Year's Eve after his wife took a nap. He admitted that when he got home, he got into an argument with his father, over Robert's desire to divorce his wife. The argument turned into a physical struggle, and ended with Robert Farley shooting his dad at least 4 times, the report states.
Farley admitted that he faked the alleged robbery by taking several items from he home. He changed clothes, then drove to Lake Wire, where he threw the .38 caliber handgun he used to shoot his father into the lake.
Members of the Polk County Dive Team spent most of Saturday searching the lake, and retrieved the gun shortly before 5 pm.
Robert Farley then returned to the hotel, where he spent the night celebrating New Year's Eve with his wife Mary, spending the night dancing and dining, he admitted.
The next morning the couple returned to the house, when they found Walter's body, and Robert called 911 and told the story of the phony home invasion.
Walter Farley was living in the Indian Heights Drive home he owned but shared with his son and daughter-in-law. They had moved into the home to take care of Walter.
Several inconsistencies in Robert's story led to his confession, investigators said.
Robert Farley first told detectives he had left the hotel around 6 pm on New Year's Eve and headed south out of the hotel parking lot. In fact, surveillance video showed him going north, detectives said. He also said he had been gone for 30 minutes, when he was gone for an hour and a half.
"Walter Farley did not deserve to die this way, and thanks to the people in the community who went out of their way to help us, and the staff at the Red Rose Inn, we were able to quickly bring his killer to justice." said Sheriff Grady Judd.
Robert Farley is now charged with first-degree murder.
