'Riverdale' Actor Ryan Grantham Gets Life In Prison For Killing Mother

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Riverdale actor Ryan Grantham has received a life sentence for the murder of his mother.

The British Columbia Supreme Court in Vancouver handed down the sentence on Tuesday (September 22), sentencing the 24-year-old former child star to life behind bars for fatally shooting his mother, Barbara Waite, in 2020, per Entertainment Weekly. He will be eligible for parole in 14 years.

The Diary of a Wimpy Kid actor was just 21 years old when he used a rifle to shoot his 64-year-old mother in the back of the head as she played piano in their Squamish townhouse on March 31, 2020, CBC reports. He confessed to the crime in a video he took that also showed his mother's body.

Grantham also reportedly planned to kill Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, loading up his car with three guns, ammunition and a dozen Molotov cocktails before switching gears and thinking about committing a mass shooting at his university instead. He ultimately turned himself in to police. Speaking in the sentencing hearing, Justice Kathleen Ker said it was a "saving grace" was that he didn't go through with his other plans.

Grantham's lawyer Chris Johnson said the actor was expecting the sentence he received, per People. He had pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, which has an automatic life sentence in Canada.

"I think he anticipated what the judge gave him as a sentence," said Johnson. "I think he's pretty apprehensive about the whole thing. He's a fairly tiny person, and to go to the prison system, I'm sure it's a daunting and and scary thought for him."

Ker noted that Grantham is receiving psychiatric help in prison.


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