Former Canadian child actor imprisoned for murdering her own mother

Ryan Grantham has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder of his mother in court 

By Edward Era Barbacena

A former B.C. child star has been sentenced to life in prison for the killing of his mother.

Ryan Grantham pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in March for the death of Barbara Waite.

She was found dead in her Squamish home on April 1, 2020.

Second-degree murder carries an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for 10 years.

Grantham will not be eligible to apply for parole until he has served 14 years. He was also handed a lifetime firearm prohibition.

In his sentencing hearing in June, it was revealed Grantham had plans to drive to Ottawa and kill Prime Minister Justin Trudeau after he killed his mother.

In court, the Crown read out the agreed statement of facts that said Grantham shot his mother in the back of her head while she was playing the piano.

The next day he then loaded his car with guns, ammunition, Molotov cocktails, camping supplies and a map to Rideau Cottage in Ottawa, where Trudeau lives.

The documents said Grantham talked about killing Trudeau to police when he was arrested and he wrote about it in his journal.

In the days leading up to his mother’s death, Grantham recorded himself on camera appearing to walk through the killing. In another video he described what happened. The video was shown in court.

The actor most recently appeared in the B.C.-shot CW television show Riverdale, and has a long list of credits including The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnasus, Supernatural and iZombie.