Such Good Boys

The True Story of a Mother, Two Sons and a Horrifying Murder

By: Tina Dirmann

Narrated by: Gabra Zackman

An abusive mother

Raised in the suburb of Riverside, California, 20-year-old college student Jason Bautista endured for years his emotionally disturbed mother's verbal and psychological abuse. She even locked him out of the house, tied him up with electrical cord, and on one occasion, gave him a beating that sent him to the emergency room.

A son's revenge

On the night of January 14, 2003, Jason strangled his mother. To keep authorities from identifying her body, he chopped off her head and hands, an idea he claimed he got from watching an episode of the hit TV series The Sopranos. Jason's 15-year-old half-brother, Matthew, would later testify in court that he sat in another room in the house with the TV volume turned up while Jason murdered their mother.

A crime that would bond two brothers

The morning following the murder, Matthew went to school, and Jason returned to his classes at Cal State San Bernardino. When authorities zeroed in on them, Jason lied and said that his mother had run off with a boyfriend she'd met on the Internet. But when police confronted the boys with overwhelming evidence, Jason confessed all. Now the nightmare was only just beginning for him.

©2005 Tina Dirmann (P)2016 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Tina Dirmann tells this story exactly like it is. There are no added frills. It is straight forward and factual and I personally love this style of writing." ( True Crime Book Reviews)

Heartbreaking

Heartbreaking on many different levels. I feel for all involved! It is sad that people didn’t see what was really going on.

This is an ok read

To be honest I didn’t believe I would make it to the end of this book before giving up on it. But with books can can always get surprised - and I for sure did with this book.

The book began very slow and continued like this for quite some time. However when I came past this point it took another turn and it actually ended like an ok read.

This book covers a case that I haven’t heard about before.

Besides the picking of the narrator is good. She really did a great job.

*this review is placed on several different platforms

Sadness of situation

Narrator sounded like she was in a race. I had to check my speed setting to make sure it wasn’t at 1.5 or 2. Too bad, because story was interesting.

Ruined lives of so many

Very sad, all of them are victims as well as perpetrators. No childhood and no adulthood for Jason

Well written

Great narration. Such a tragic story tbh. Mental illness is the main theme. This book does a great job making you feel sorry for everyone involved.