Son sentenced to life in prison for strangling his father, tossing him in St. Johns River

A DeBary man was sentenced Friday to life in prison for killing his father more than a decade ago, a crime prosecutors said was motivated by an attempt to gain control of the father's land in Costa Rica.

Robert Remus Jr. strangled his 67-year-old father, Robert Remus Sr., in 2012, tied his body to a barbecue grill, and tossed him from a pontoon boat into the St. Johns River.

Remus Jr., 54, was convicted of first-degree premeditated murder, which carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison.

A jury convicted Remus Jr. June 7 in Circuit Judge Elizabeth Blackburn’s courtroom at the S. James Foxman Justice Center in Daytona Beach.

Remus Jr. said declined to make any statements.

But his sister, Kimberly Kuybus, of Sanford, said her brother did not kill his father. She said the real killers were still free.

"Those two were the closest people," Kuybus said of her father and brother. "They were best friends. They worked together."

She said her brother was a good person.

"He was a good kind-hearted person and would do anything for anybody," Kuybus said.

But prosecutors said there was a criminal side to Remus Jr.

Assistant State Attorneys Andrew Urbanak and Joe LeDonne argued that Remus Jr. killed Remus Sr. to gain control of his father's land in Costa Rica, which the son believed was worth $2 million.

The pair went for a ride on the father’s pontoon boat on Sept. 8, 2012. They left from a slip at the High Banks Marina, which was part of a trailer park where the father was living. The father was never seen alive again.

The judge sentenced Remus Jr. to the mandatory life prison sentence.

Remus Jr. did not appear to react to the sentence, which was expected.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: DeBary man gets life for strangling father, throwing him in river