Suspect in 2013 double slaying pleads guilty to related charge

One of the teenagers accused of killing a vacationing couple in Stone County in 2013 pleaded guilty last week to a felony charge connected to the case.

Anthony Zarro, 19, pleaded guilty Tuesday to first-degree burglary and agreed to spend 10 years in prison.

That 10-year sentence would run concurrent to any other prison time Zarro receives in this case. He is also charged with two counts of first-degree murder, three counts of armed criminal action and one count of first-degree robbery in connection with the 2013 killings of Paul and Margaret Brooks.

Zarro is scheduled to stand trial for the other charges in March.

Court documents used to charge Zarro more than two years ago say he and Christopher Allen fled from the Lives Under Construction Boys Ranch on Jan. 29, 2013.

Two days later, Zarro and Allen were seen taking items from the Brooks’ vacation home off of Table Rock Lake and loading them into the couple’s car. The neighbor who saw them held them at gunpoint until authorities arrived, according to court documents.

Both Zarro and Allen had blood-spattered clothes, and were in possession of ID and bank cards from both victims, the documents say.

Authorities asked the two if anyone else was inside the home. Court documents say Zarro responded there were two people inside, and that “I killed them, I beat them with a baseball bat and stabbed them.”

Stone County sheriff’s deputies found the Brookses in the bedroom of the home, and said it appeared they were killed in the kitchen and dragged to the bedroom, documents say.

A wooden bed post with blood on it was found in the car, according to documents. Authorities believe it was one of the murder weapons.

Allen also pleaded guilty to burglary in April and agreed to 10 years in prison. Online records indicate Allen is undergoing a mental examination.

Zarro is also facing assault charges filed in July after he allegedly broke a fellow inmate’s nose at the Stone County Jail.