A Scrapbook Executive Dies at His Son’s Hand
(“Shoot to Thrill,” Forensic Files)
Note: This post was updated in October 2020.
When children kill their parents, money is usually the primary motive and the secondary one is a desire for freedom (Sarah Johnson).
Forensic Files killer Jason MacLennan had a third reason and, while it doesn’t justify shooting his father seven times, it makes the crime a little easier to comprehend: Jason resented the way his dad had neglected his mom while she was terminally ill.
For this week, I checked into where Jason and the buddy who helped him orchestrate the murder are today, and also looked for more family history.
Started up north. So let’s get going on the recap of “Shoot to Thrill” along with additional information drawn from internet research:
Jason MacLennan was born in Canada to Betty Irene Relf and Kenneth MacLennan on Feb. 22, 1985. The family moved to Orlando in 1997.
Kenneth traveled extensively for his job, often leaving Jason to care for Betty during her treatments for breast cancer in the late 1990s.
She had two mastectomies.
Jason would sometimes fall asleep in school because he had been up all night tending to his mother, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
That was fast. The family relocated to Oviedo, Florida, where Jason played lacrosse at Oviedo High School. Toward the end of Betty’s life, the MacLennans temporarily moved back to Canada so she could be close to relatives.
In 1999, shortly after — accounts vary as to whether it was two weeks or four months — his mother’s death, Kenneth’s girlfriend, Laurence Morand, moved into the MacLennans’ house.
Laurence had to fly back to Switzerland after every 90 days because of a visa problem, but she lived with Ken and Jason off and on for years.
Nostalgic work. Jason didn’t appreciate the Swiss businesswoman’s presence, and the two argued often. (Note: Forensic Files refers to her by the pseudonym “Alessandra.”)
In 2002, the MacLennans moved to St. Cloud, Minnesota, where Kenneth, a former Tupperware executive, nabbed a high-level management job at a scrapbook and photo album company called Creative Memories.
The family had a Jack Russell terrier named Mac, which probably made for some nice Kodak moments, but it didn’t compensate for Kenneth’s long absences. When he was in town, he often didn’t come home until 9 p.m., according to Star Tribune reporting.
Variety of bullets. Around midnight on Jan. 14, 2003, Jason called 911 to report that he’d discovered his father shot to death at the base of the stairs.
Responders found Kenneth MacLennan, 53, bloodied on the hardwood floor of the family’s house. His gun wounds came from four different types of ammunition, lab tests would later show.
At first, it looked like a robbery. Kenneth’s watch and cash were missing.
Outside, police found an unexplained set of footprints from Lugz boots, “popular in the world of hip-hop,” according to Forensic Files.
Jason, 17, said that two additional sets of tracks belonged to him and Matthew Moeller, a classmate from St. Cloud Technical High School. They had gone outside to smoke, Jason said.
Girlfriend abroad. Police found no gunshot residue on Jason’s hands.
Laurence Morand stood to collect $100,000 from Kenneth’s Creative Memories life insurance policy, but she was in Switzerland at the time of the shooting, so police ruled her out.
Soon, Jason’s classmates began speaking with the authorities.
He had been asking around for help killing his dad and told friends they would be rich and free of rules with Kenneth out of the way, the students said.
Partner cracks. Under police questioning, Jason stuck to his story that he had gotten out of the shower and then found his father dead on the floor.
Matt on the other hand, held back for a short time, then started singing like an American Idol contestant.
He said Jason had given him $1,000 for procuring the rifle used in the murder. Matt also mentioned using four types of ammunition — a fact that police hadn’t released to the news media.
Matt explained that the third set of footprints came from his own Lugz, which the two conspirators used in a bid to throw off investigators.
Firearm forensics. On a rural property owned by Matt Moeller’s parents, police found Jason’s bloody clothes, Kenneth’s charge cards, and $1,255 in cash. A glove had Jason’s DNA inside and gun residue on the outside.
A drop of blood inside the barrel of Matt’s 22-caliber rifle came from Kenneth MacLennan, who probably tried to grab the weapon in self-defense.
Matt and Jason were charged with murder just two days after the crime, on Jan. 16, 2003.
Prints in the snow. Prosecutors believed the motive was Kenneth’s $1.4 million estate and Jason’s hatred of his dad for being an absentee father and husband.
They alleged that on the night of the murder, Jason and Matt waited until Kenneth fell asleep. Then, they made the fake Lugz-footprints and Matt rang the doorbell. When Kenneth came downstairs, Jason fired repeatedly at close range.
Jason pleaded not guilty and changed his story, alleging that he feared his father and shot him in self-defense.
The judge refused the defense’s request to present testimony from a battered-child syndrome expert, but the jury did hear that Kenneth burned his son’s arm with a cigarette to punish him for smoking and threatened him with a knife during an argument.
Parent remiss. At the very least, there was alienation between Kenneth and Jason, according to reporting from the Orlando Sentinel: “‘There was no communication,’ said Bonnie Kulpak, whose daughter had gone to the prom with Jason. ‘This boy was a lost soul.'”
Matt Moeller described Jason’s father as “like a ghost figure,” the St. Cloud Times reported.
It came out at the trial that Kenneth had made 26 business trips for Creative Memories during the nine-month period leading up to the murder, the Star Tribune reported.
No husband of the year. Police found a suicide prevention card and Betty MacLennan’s death certificate in Jason’s basement bedroom.
One witness testified that Jason had begged her to take him away from his dad. Marie Buenrostro, the wife of Kenneth’s former tennis partner, told the Star Tribune that Ken acted like John McEnroe on the court and had a worrisome temper in general — which contributed to his firing from his Tupperware job.
Jason alleged that his dad physically abused his mother.
Betty sometimes locked herself in Jason’s room and slept on the floor, according to Buenrostro.
At the very least, Kenneth mistreated Betty emotionally, according to acquaintances who recounted Kenneth openly watching pornography at home — to the extent that a neighbor forbade his children to visit the MacLennans’ house — and he left Betty to drive herself to chemotherapy sessions, the Star Tribune reported.
Eyes on the estate. Meanwhile, Debbie Harris, the mother of Jason’s girlfriend Molly, described Jason as “the most nonaggressive teenager you could imagine … polite, sweet, loving” and said that he spent his spare time playing chess and watching the History Channel, the Star Tribune reported.
But friends testified that Jason frequently spoke of the wealth he would inherit upon his father’s death (although there was a contention that he was speaking of money he would receive from a trust when he turned 18, the St. Cloud Times reported). One acquaintance said Jason used Kenneth like “a bank,” the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.
Laurence Morand maintained that Jason and Kenneth both had bad tempers and argued frequently, according to court papers.
Time to pay. The prosecution called the attack on Kenneth a “premeditated ambush execution” and noted that both Matt and Jason had prior criminal records. Jason had a restricted license because of street racing in his Hyundai; it’s not clear what Matt’s offense was.
The jury agreed with the prosecution and convicted Jason of first-degree murder. He received life in prison.
Matt, who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, got 30 years.
in recent mug shots
In 2005, the Minnesota Supreme Court denied Jason’s request for a new trial, rejecting his repeated contention that he was a victim of battered-child syndrome.
Grandmother faithful. Today, Jason lives in the Minnesota Correctional Institution – Stillwater, where custody level ranges from minimum to close.
He acquired a large neck tattoo while behind bars.
Jason’s paternal grandmother, Margaret MacLennan, either forgave Jason or thought he was innocent. Her 2010 obituary described her as the “loving grandmother of Jason MacLennan.”
Matt has moved from the Minnesota Correctional Institution – Moose Lake to Stillwater. The prison website lists his anticipated release date as Jan. 17, 2023.
That’s all for this post. Until next week, cheers. — RR
Watch the Forensic Files episode on YouTube or Amazon Prime or Hulu
Thanks, Rebecca. This was clearly a premeditated ambush, as described, so very grave. Yet it’s hard not to impute a little mitigation due to the son’s very possibly traumatic loss of the mother he cared for, compounded by the arrival of the father’s g/friend in short order, and the father’s considerable absence and possible neglect of his wife and son.
Yet I think the jury was right not simply to accept that the son and his mother were abused or neglected. It could be argued that the father was trying to provide for the family on one wage and/or materially for the son as a kind of compensation for the sadness of his mother’s illness. In other words, the father could have been pretty stressed by the situation also, and tried his best even if he performed his duties poorly. It seems we can’t be sure of the father’s behaviour and motives, just as we can’t that the son was motivated by greed.
I therefore think the outcome for the son was correct – though I might have given the possibility of parole after a long sentence in recognition of his youth and some mitigation.
I agree. It’s also too bad because the son could have hung on until it was time for college and picked a school far away from his dad.
Rebecca: Yes, it was ‘tragically’ near the time when he could’ve flown the nest (though maybe his dad said he wouldn’t fund him post-18, which could’ve been motive…) The son’s immaturity was shown in bragging about inheritance… then appearing to bring it on.
Sons and mothers…: the son conceivably hated his father for the ‘wicked’ treatment of a sick wife, and it seems most likely that that hatred turned murderous…
I simultaneously feel sorry for the son’s loss, of both parents, while being appalled at a wicked act that was planned and so could’ve been aborted.
I think there was definitely emotional neglect. However, I am not saying that justified murder. As for him using his father like a bank, well, some people confuse love with money. I told a therapist years ago that I wanted to leave my partner because of “lack of emotional availability,:” although I was able to get material things from him. My therapist advised against my leaving because I grew up in foster care and had little support of any kind. What convinced me to stay: My therapist told me that giving me money was how my partner said, “I love you.” That may have very well been true. Turns out my partner has Asperger’s. I now try to understand his behavior in light of the diagnosis.
The question is whether there was genuine neglect as opposed to MacLennan jr’s merely perceiving neglect (so feeling sorry for himself)? But I suspect the cause of his apparent antipathy towards snr was his perception of snr’s treatment of his wife – jr’s mother. How reasonable that perception was we can’t possibly judge.
I think the furthest we can go is to suggest that the father’s apparent long absences were undesirable (and perhaps unwise). We can’t adjudge that as neglect ‘cos the father may have been doing what he THOUGHT was best for his son – providing well for him and maybe his future – even if we’re minded to think that presence/comfort is more important than material wellbeing (which is easy to say). MacLennan jr needed to paint snr as cruel and uncaring to mitigate his crime. Perhaps he was, but since jr’s claim’s untrustworthy and there’s no other evidence, we can’t say…
What we CAN say is that ‘teens have murdered parents where there’s been no apparent nor claimed neglect – FF having featured some. Sometimes anger or greed is all it takes…
The death of his mother from illness; the murder of his father; then his life-imprisonment. One of the more tragic FF stories.
He was 17, he could even get emancipated or just wait a year. But he is part of the American murder culture.
There are several bad decisions represented in this story, not the least among them being the death’s head neck tattoo. But I guess if you don’t expect to ever get out of prison, you might as well embrace the look.
Prison does do unusual things to one’s sense of style.
It’s all part of looking menacing to repel and intimidate (and the prison may have its own gang affiliations so indicated). He went in a teenager and would have been rape-fodder, so he’d feel the need to bulk-up and look mean as protection. Life-imprisonment for a teenager must be very frightening indeed. Victim can become aggressor in order to prevent victimhood…
Jason’s only c 34, but that mean look ages him 10 years…
In my country Jason would at 17 have been in the youth detention system not the adult system and been free after a decade and ensured psychological counselling. He may well have developed some sociopathy and definitely some borderline type issues arising from severe neglect, the loss of his mother and his father’s brutal neglect of her and having no father to speak of when she died. As he was young intense counselling and a decent stint in prison should have targeted him for rehabilitation. The US system in some states is old testament brutal.
Not sure any (primarily emotional) neglect could properly be described as ‘severe/brutal’. Plenty of young people have a missing parent (usually the father). Yes, he experienced a tragic loss, and the father may have been cold, was physically distant, and MAY have been brutal (is that the perp’s testimony only or corroborated?) but I think you overstate the case a little. Perhaps the father was deeply affected by his wife’s illness and coped very badly by neglecting his son (even the viewing of porn could perhaps be interpreted as a very poor coping strategy/response to stress). It’s hard to say. I agree that the adult system was probably inappropriate. And life imprisonment seems harsh. I’d’ve preferred to see the possibility of parole in, say, 25 yrs, given, as you observe, his youth – but I’d need persuading that the father in some sense brought this on himself…
Perhaps had the perp killed in response to an episode of abuse – snapping – the outcome for him would’ve been better; but the situation got ‘complicated’ by the apparent financial motive, and of course premeditation. I wonder if he expressed remorse? That might have been in his favour too.
US justice can seem pretty brutal – but UK (mine) justice can seem weak. Different states would’ve approached this somewhat differently, so it’s hard to generalise, but LOP for a 17-yr-old is in my view too harsh. Without research, here I suspect this would’ve resulted in something like a 10yr sentence, starting in the youth system but moving to prison at 18 – so a very much lesser outcome. I don’t necessarily buy the case for therapy as it wasn’t established MacLennan was a victim of anything (other than grief for his mum – but that’s not abuse).
I would’ve imposed something like a 12-15 yr sentence (which in UK is just a little less than a typical adult murderer gets, and which I think is too short). I think adult-premeditated murder, without appreciable mitigation, should always result in at least 20 years’ imprisonment – c a quarter of an average life. Aggravation would increase this several years, and of course the worst cases – but only the worst – whole-life tariff.
What happened to the 30 years he was supposed to do?? He’s expected to be released in January 2021. Matt should get his full 30 years. What in the world is wrong with our justice system???
His sentence is 20 years in prison followed by 10 years of probation. That has never changed.
He is expected to be released in Jan 2023. His sentence is 20 years in prison followed by 10 years probation. This has never changed.
Nothing wrong with the system. Sometimes prosecutors have to make a “deal with the devil” in order to get the most responsible person(s) convicted. Moeller took part in the murder by abetting Jason but in order to solidly convict Jason, they really needed the testimony of Moeller to put him away. A deal was obviously struck that he would receive a sentence which would be reduced to a lesser amount for good behavior, etc. A similar deal was struck with a Charles Manson witness who actually did no time, but also did not commit a murder. Sometimes there is no other way to get the main culprit(s).