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A Missouri man allegedly read his father his last rites before plunging a kitchen cleaver into his heart and burying him in a shallow grave behind his house.
Richard Saettele is accused of murdering his 63-year-old father, Michael, during an argument inside the older man’s home in Foley, Mo., back in September.
The two had gotten into a confrontation outside the home before Saettele killed his father and hid his body under construction debris in a shed outside his home – the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office said in a Probable Cause Statement viewed by The Post.
Saettele was charged with murder, domestic assault and two counts of armed criminal action on Saturday – after his father’s remains were discovered.
During the deadly argument, the elder Saettele allegedly grabbed a flathead screwdriver and attempted to throw it at his son, who in turn grabbed the tool and stabbed his father in the eye.
The force of the stabbing pushed Michael Saettele backwards to the ground before he cried out to his son, “Ricky, this is not the way,” according to police.
Saettele claims he attempted to remove the screwdriver from his father’s head but it was “stuck” and wouldn’t come out.
During his five minutes of suffering, the wounded Saettele made “deeply moving statements” before reciting the “Lord’s Prayer” with his son, the younger Saettele told police.
Instead of calling 911 to help his ailing father, the suspected killer said he believed the best thing to do was to end his father’s suffering by retrieving a cleaver from the kitchen and stopping his father’s heart.
Saettele admitted to knowingly grabbing the 9-inch butcher blade to use to kill his father.
The alleged murderous son said he read his father’s “last rites” before plunging the cleaver into his father’s heart, breaking the handle in the process before finishing the rites after the stabbing, police said.
After his father stopped breathing, Saettele dragged his father’s body approximately 20 feet, where he dumped him into a one-foot-deep hole he had dug with a military shovel.
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Saettele told police he had initially buried his dad under just dirt before the corpse began to produce a foul smell a couple of days later and then covered him with multiple “blankets” of insulation.
Michael Saettele’s body was discovered underneath a pile of construction debris and a pile of fiberglass insulation under the dirt floor of a lean-to shed attached to the home on Saturday.
The suspected killer was tracked down by police and arrested the same night.
Prosecutors are questioning if Michael Saettele would have survived the initial screwdriver stabbing as part of their prosecution.
“The medical examiner is going to have to take a look at the body and make any type of determination whether or not that was going to be a fatal wound,” Lincoln County Prosecuting Attorney Mike Wood said, according to Fox2Now. “Partly, whether or not the wound was fatal itself was whether or not you were able to seek treatment in a timely fashion.”
Saettele told police the killing happened sometime in mid to late September without giving an exact date.
He is being held at the Lincoln County Jail without bond.
The murder suspect made an initial court appearance on Tuesday. The next court hearing is scheduled for Nov. 3.

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