Ryan Grantham is a name more connected to fiction than fact. He was the star of The Diary of a Wimpy Kid film and also a star of the television series Riverdale. Child actors are known to have many problems, but none like this.

On 9th March 2022, he was found guilty of second-degree murder at twenty-four years old. Grantham had murdered his sixty-four-year-old mother, who was suffering from cancer.

Grantham was born in 1998 to an unknown father and Barbara Waite. His father abandoned the family when he was a child. His first appearance was in 2007 when he appeared in The Secret of the Nutcrackers, numerous television and film appearances followed.

The murder film

On 31st November 2020, Barbara Waite was shot through the back of her head while playing the piano. The one shot was fatal. After filming the murder on his GoPro, the film star went to buy some beer and weed. After consuming these, he went to bed.

The next day, Grantham covered his mother's body with a sheet and arranged candles around her before loading his car. He took three guns, ammunition, twelve Molotov cocktails and some camping gear. Then, he followed the map he had printed from google maps to Rideau Cottage, Ottawa, where he meant to kill Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau.

As he drove east, he changed his mind; going to Vancouver, he turned himself in at the police headquarters. Meanwhile, his sister Lisa Granthan had found their mother's body.

Murder charges

When police investigated, they had a wealth of evidence against the star. This included the GoPro footage, the police statement and several journals where Grantham had written about his plans. He stated he killed his mother because she would discover his poor school report and record of smoking weed.

He also documented the fall of his mental health, where he described his self-loathing, feelings of hopelessness and urge for violence. Nevertheless, Grantham was considered a competent gun owner, as was yet another example of someone with severe mental health problems obtaining a gun.

The journals also reported that he had planned a mass killing at Simon Fraser University, where he was a student.

Another person with mental health and a gun

Sentencing for Grantham began on 13th June 2022 but was postponed whilst a mental health assessment was carried out. Granthan had already been diagnosed with clinical depression.

The prosecution hopes to secure a sentence of seventeen to eighteen years before parole. The defence hopes Grantham is given a lighter sentence due to his mental health. His father, who has now made contact, supports him through this.

Grantham, at trial, stated "I cannot explain or justify my actions. I have no excuse. It hurts me to think about how badly I've wasted my life."

"In the face of something so horrible, saying sorry seems so pointless. But from every fibre of my being, I am sorry," he said. 

It is yet to be decided what sentence he will receive.

Sources: Complex CA CinemaBlend