Charles Lee Ewers faces 22 years to life in prison after pleading guilty.
A California dad could spend the rest of his life in prison after admitting this week that he tried to kill his own children by poisoning them with carbon monoxide.
Charles Ewers pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted murder after authorities found his sons, ages 8 and 10, in his garage during a custody visit in 2015, the Sacramento District Attorney said in a statement Friday.
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On April 4 of that year, deputies with the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department responded to Ewers' home after receiving a call from his estranged wife, who was concerned about her children's whereabouts as Ewers had failed to bring them home at the agreed-upon time.
Deputies heard the sound of a running car motor from the garage and after forcing their way into the garage found the boys with their heads and faces bloodied, according to the DA.
Yellow hoses connected from the exhaust pipe led into a small opening through the rear passenger window, police said.
Deputies say they immediately removed the children from the vehicle while Charles Ewers remained in the driver’s seat with a replica airsoft gun. He was later removed.
Before he put them in the car, Ewers told deputies that he gave his children Ambien to make them drowsy. When that failed to work, he told cops he struck them both in the head with mallets.
After assaulting them, he then forced the children into his running car where he told them they were “going to Heaven.”
Despite the gruesomeness of the crime, cops say the father told them he'd do it all again if given the chance.
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“I am in control. I am not in a rage," Ewers told authorities. "I am in control and I am sad that it didn’t work out. If I could try again, I would.”
He later told them that he had planned the sinister act for several months and was looking for the “right time” to do it.
Ewers will be sentenced to 22 years to life in state prison on June 6, according to the district attorney.
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