I Just Killed My Dad: Who was Burt Templet?

Directed by Girl in the Picture's Skye Borgman, I Just Killed My Dad examines Anthony Templet's account that he shot his father in self-defence, but also dives into the "secret life" of Burt, who was a physically and mentally abusive father behind closed doors.

Read on for everything you need to know about Burt Templet – one of the subjects in I Just Killed My Dad.

Who was Burt Templet?

Burt Templet was a 53-year-old Louisiana resident whose death is the subject of Netflix documentary I Just Killed My Dad.

On 3rd June 2019, Templet was killed when his son Anthony shot him after the pair began arguing over the 17-year-old's phone.

According to Fox8 Local First, Burt had been trying to see if Anthony was communicating with his ex-wife Susan when the two began fighting.

"He tried to attack me. Then, we got into a fist fight. Then, I ran in his room, closed the door and got a gun," Anthony said in a 911 call after the shooting. "As I unlocked the door, he tried to [inaudible] and then I shot him."

Anthony shot Burt three times, with the 53-year-old dying several days later and Anthony being originally charged with second-degree murder.

However, it came to light that Burt had taken five-year-old Anthony from the home he shared with Anthony's mother and sister in 2007, and went on to physically and mentally abuse him.

Speaking in the documentary (as reported in The Irish Sun), Anthony said how he was "punched and thrown and kicked" by his father during fits of rage and that "sometimes it wouldn't stop for hours".

"He always wanted to know everything," he said. "I was always being tracked by something, whether it be a camera or mobile app. He wanted to be in control of everything, of me and the rest of the family in that house. I knew he was trying to control me."

Burt also stopped Anthony from attending school, with him telling a judge that he had never completed a full year in an academic establishment. "He never put me in public school. I never understood why," Anthony says in the series.

Anthony's family said that the teenager acted in self-defence when shooting his father, with his sister Natasha revealing that they only discovered where Anthony was after his arrest.

"After 11 years of waiting to hear if my brother was still alive, he is found," she told WAFB in 2019. "He has been secluded and abused all these years by his own father. My brave brother had to defend himself for the last time against that evil man."

She added: "He snatched him from our home. Burt and my mom were together for about ten years and it was extremely violent."

According to Fox8Live, Burt's ex-wife Susan sought a court order of protection against him prior to the shooting, with court documents stating that he was physically abusive and in one instance, knocked one of her teeth out.

"Burt had an app on his phone; with every movement on a camera he’d get a text of what was going on," Susan tells the docuseries. "Every time I turned my car engine off, he’d get an alert that it was off. If I parked here, he could know when I’d got home from the grocery store and how many bags I was carrying."

Anthony's charges were eventually downgraded to manslaughter and in March 2021, he was convicted of negligent homicide, being sentenced to five years of supervised probation and required to obtain a high school diploma.

How to watch I Just Killed My Dad on Netflix

I Just Killed My Dad will arrive on Netflix on Tuesday 9th August.

I Just Killed My Dad arrives on Netflix on Tuesday 9th August. Read more of our Documentaries coverage or visit our TV Guide to see what else is on.

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