A teen-ager who helped a 73-year-old Salisbury man with household chores and getting around town pleaded guilty Thursday to killing the man with a banister pole.

Bryan Alan Gonsalves, 16, pleaded guilty to second-murder and robbery with a dangerous weapon and will spend a minimum of 12 years-6 months in state prison for killing Floyd “Shorty”Eller. Eller considered Gonsalves a friend, according to Eller’s daughter, Patty Culp.

Testimony indicated the teen-ager had been abused and ignored by his mother. And before sentencing Gonsalves, Superior Court Judge Michael Beale observed:

“I see this over and over again. You can just about predict the background of the kids that come through here.”

Prosecutors agreed to reduce the original charges of first-degree murder and armed robbery in exchange for the teen’s plea. He was 15 at the time of the murder, but a juvenile court judge ruled that he could be tried as an adult.

Salisbury Police Detective Rodney Harris detailed to the court the department’s investigation of the crime.

Harris said investigators found Eller the night of Nov. 3 lying on his bed in a pool of blood. His wallet lay beside him, along with an envelope that had contained his social security check. Eller had cashed the $805 check that day but had less than $2 on him.

Detectives determined that Eller spent much of the day with Gonsalves. Witnesses saw Gonsalves with Eller at a nearby bank. Detectives pulled the security tape and saw the two together, Harris said.

Eller’s mailman said a young black man was waiting at Eller’s mailbox that day and retrieved Eller’s mail.

Detectives questioned Gonsalves three times. During the first two, Gonsalves admitted he was with Eller that day and that he had driven him around to cash the check and buy a cane. But Gonsalves denied any knowledge of Eller’s death.

In the third statement, read in court by Harris, Gonsalves said he had cut Eller’s grass that day, but when he tried to collect his wages, he said Eller refused. Gonsalves said Eller, who had been drinking, grabbed a gun and hit Gonsalves in the stomach. Gonsalves said he got mad and hit Eller with a large wooden banister pole in his ribs and legs. Gonsalves said when he left, Eller was on the floor saying he was going to get him.

Medical examiners found no injuries to Eller’s legs or ribs, according to the autopsy. Eller died from a single blow to the head. State Bureau of Investigation lab workers found human blood on the banister pole, but DNA reports have not been completed, Harris testified.

Culp told the court her father was an alcoholic. The family “accepted”Gonsalves as their father’s friend and helper. Eller had told them “he was a fine young man who helped out a lot,” Culp said after Thursday’s hearing.

But Culp said the family also had begun noticing bruises on Eller’s arms. And one month before his death, his wallet was stolen the same day his social security check arrived.

“When you’re an alcoholic, you don’t remember what happened,”Culp said.

Defense attorney Darrin Jordan called clinical psychologist Dr. Jerry Noble of Winston-Salem to the stand. Noble had reviewed Gonsalves’ case and learned the teen was neglected and abused as a child. His mother was convicted of child abuse when Brian was 12, Noble said.

Before sentencing, Jordan said that during the year he represented Gonsalves, the boy’s mother never contacted him. “It breaks your heart.”Jordan said.

Noble described Gonsalves as moody, sensitive, depressed and prone to suicidal thoughts. He also told the court that Gonsalves has a problem realizing the consequences of his actions.

“Brian’s ability to control himself is considerably low at a time of high emotion,” Noble said.

On cross-examination, Kenerly made sure Noble’s testimony was not hinting that Gonsalves did not know right from wrong or that he did not have the competency to stand trial. Noble agreed it did not.

Before sentencing, Gonsalves’ grandmother Frezelle Campbell testified that her grandson is “the type of person who will help you if he can. This is why he was at (Eller’s) house that day.

“This was a shock to the family,” she said. “What brought this on, I do not know.”

Campbell lived two doors down from Eller at the time of the murder. Gonsalves often stayed with his grandmother, and that is how the two met.

Culp said she was pleased with the sentence. “Even if it came to it, we wouldn’t have wanted this boy to get death for this.”

Reach Jonathan Weaver at 704-797-4266 or jweaver@salisburypost.com .