In a plan to collect his inheritance early, a Colorado teen murdered his grandparents with the help of his girlfriend
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Brendan Johnson, 19, and his girlfriend, 18-year-old Cassandra Rieb, were arrested Tuesday, suspected of killing his 70-year-old grandparents, Charles and Shirley Severance.
The teens told police they killed the couple last month for Johnson's inheritance: $20,000 and a small Sterling, Colo., home worth $47,000,
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Police said the young couple wanted to smother the grandparents as they slept, but Charles Severance was awake when the teens sneaked in. Johnson told police that he began choking the man and that his grandfather likely died of a heart attack during the fight.
Next, the teens went after Shirley Severance. They strangled and stabbed the woman with a kitchen knife
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"Together we went, and we did it together," Rieb told police,
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Like one get one and one get the other."
The teens burned Shirley Severance's body, then took the charred remains to Nebraska
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The suspects told investigators that they planned to do the same with Charles Severance's body, but the 70-year-old was too heavy to carry.
Instead, they cleaned the grandparents' Colorado home and called 911 nine days later to report Charles Severance dead and his wife missing.
The teens face possible first-degree murder, aggravated robbery and forgery charges. Both are held without bond.
Johnson had recently graduated from high school,
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Classmates of the accused couple
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that Johnson and Rieb were opposites: They described Rieb as studious and popular and Johnson as a bully.
"She probably followed him,"
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