Single Dad Found Dead in Florida, Murdered by Two Young Sons By Liam Quinn

As firefighters responded to a call about a blaze at a house in Cantonment, Fla., on Nov. 26, 2001, a disturbing sight awaited them.

Inside the charred one-story house, they discovered the body of a man who appeared to be reclining peacefully in a living room chair with a beverage. Then they noticed blood splattered on the walls, an aluminum baseball bat in a nearby bedroom—and the man’s disfiguring head wounds.

Terry King, a 40-year-old single father, had been murdered, and his two young sons—Derek, then 13, and Alex, 12—were nowhere to be found. “From day one, this was a strange case,” says retired Escambia County Sheriff’s Office Homicide Investigator John Sanderson, 65, describing the puzzling scene. “I can’t recall seeing another like this.”

The following day there was a break in the case when Ricky Chavis, a local handyman who had befriended Terry and often took care of his sons while Terry was at work, brought Derek and Alex to the sheriff’s station.

Questioned by detectives, the boys described in meticulous detail how they had beaten their father to death and then set the house on fire when he threatened to punish them for running away to stay with Chavis.

But they soon changed their story, accusing then-40-year-old Chavis — with whom Alex, shockingly, claimed he was having a sexual relationship — of killing their father and then forcibly taking them to his house to hide from authorities. 

In a highly unusual judicial proceeding at the Escambia County Courthouse the following year, Chavis and both of the King brothers were tried for the same crime — Terry’s murder.

In the end, Terry’s sons pleaded guilty to third-degree murder and arson and spent nearly a decade in juvenile detention.

Meanwhile, in three separate trials, jurors acquitted Chavis of murder, kidnapping and child molestation but found him guilty of being an accessory to the crime and false imprisonment. 

He is currently serving 30 years in prison.

Now the chilling events leading up to the dramatic courtroom confrontation — and its tragic aftermath — are explored in “Playing With Fire,” a new episode of People Magazine Investigates, premiering Feb. 2 on ID and streaming on HBO Max.

“I never thought the boys would do such a thing,” says Lisa Spurlock-Litle, 65, who was then married to Alex and Derek’s maternal grandfather. “[Until Derek confessed], we just didn’t believe it.”

For more on the shocking murder of Terry King, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands now, or subscribe here.

Life was never easy for the King boys. Their parents, Terry and Janet French, now 58, split when they were toddlers.

Terry was committed to raising his sons when French found a new job and moved out. But working at minimum-wage jobs while suffering from narcolepsy, he struggled to provide a comfortable upbringing.

When Alex and Derek were 5 and 6, respectively, they moved into a group home before being separated and living with foster families. The change proved too much for Alex, who soon returned to his dad.

It would be seven years before Derek, who had ADHD and became unhappy with his well-off foster family, was able to reunite with his dad and brother after Terry got a better job.

But in “Playing With Fire,” Derek recalls that moving in with Terry, who didn’t have a working television, “was a huge culture shock.” 

The boys’ lives took a dark turn when they began spending time with Chavis, who, unknown to the Kings, was a convicted pedophile.

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Instead of taking them to school in the mornings, Chavis drove them to his own house, where they played video games and watched TV. Soon “the boys had the mindset that if something happened to their dad, they could live with Rick—and he told them they could,” says Sanderson. 

After serving their time at separate juvenile facilities, the brothers planned to stay close and see each other often, says Derek. But those plans were cut short: Alex died from a drug overdose in 2024, and Derek was arrested last June in Milton, Fla., and now faces a felony sexual-assault charge.

Prior to his arrest, he was interviewed by People Magazine Investigates at the cemetery where his father is buried. When asked what he would say if his dad could hear him now, Derek replies somberly, “Please forgive me.”

“Playing With Fire,” a new episode of People Magazine Investigates, premieres Feb. 2 on ID and streams on HBO Max.