Son of Iowa murder suspect: Home invasion was real

FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP) — The son of a woman on trial in the 2001 death of an Iowa man is backing her claims that the shooting came during a home invasion. Bert Pitman says two men broke in and choked his mother with pantyhose.

Pitman, who was 11 at the time, stood at the witness stand at his mother Tracey Richter’s first-degree murder trial on Thursday.

He showed jurors how he held a baseball bat to protect himself while he was in his room with his two younger siblings after he heard his mother getting choked. He also got on the floor and showed how he said the man who was shot, Dustin Wehde, was trying to get up before his mother put the final bullet in his head.

Prosecutors say the home invasion was made up by Richter.