Like Father Like Son

by Robert Scott

Thomas Soria appeared to be a devoted single parent to his son, Thomas Soria, Jr., known as "T.J." -- even as he seduced the youngster, turning him into a sex slave. When T.J. reached dating age, he pimped his girlfriends to his dad and watched while they had sex. But it wasn't enough. Soria, Sr.'s fantasies turned increasingly violent, culminating in an obsession with cutting and torturing young females while sexually assaulting them.

On March 19, 2000, in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, T.J., 19, lured 9-year-old Krystal Steadman into the family apartment. 40-year-old Soria, Sr. brutally raped the girl, then stabbed her to death. He wasn't worried -- he knew T.J. would get rid of the body for him.

The Sorias finally turned against each other during Nevada's first father and son death penalty case. The detailed courtroom evidence and testimony shocked even hardened law enforcement veterans and wrote a new chapter in the deviant psychopathology of lust-murderers. Soria, Sr. committed suicide in prison, cheating the executioner and leaving T.J. to spend the rest of his life behind bars without parole.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Crime

320 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published December 1, 2002

About the author

Robert Scott was an investigative journalist and crime expert.

Reviews

[♥ Marlene♥]

on Friday, September 15, 2006 I wrote:

7 out of 10
Read this in a day yesterday.
I did not find it the best true crime book but I did find it an interesting and quick read.

[John]

I went to school with Thomas Soria Sr. sat next to him in class actually, he liked my sister but she didn't like him. He was a really weak looking guy. Real scrawny and weak. I thought there was something medically wrong with him. He was smart, nice, and fairly normal. He was a single child, we didn't really like him as a friend but he had a lot of cool toys at his house and we would stop by on our way home to play pinball. His code name on the CB radio was "The pinball wizard". He seemed really safe and non threatening to anyone. Most of the girls at school could have probably kicked his ass, he was really non athletic and non muscular. Always clean and well dressed. His mother was a very pretty lady and would bring us drinks as we played pinball. I was never alone with Thomas, always in a group cause I was an athlete and musician and Thomas was more of a nerd or computer guy. We were not really friends only acquaintances. He got in a fight and was beat up at school one day against another kid who also liked my sister. I kinda felt bad for Thomas actually. I think he may have been on the chess team and some other activity groups. He Seemed normal just real nerdy. Not our type as a friend. He would always make up secret codes at school and we would try to decode them. Such as hidden messages in coded lettering and numbers. He was a smart kid. After graduation I read that his mother was murdered by Mazingo. We all knew who the Mazingos were but just from talk. I can't comment on them for it would just be third party, i was friends with the gas station worker who was referenced in the book as answering the phone when Tom called the gas station that his step father owned ( Mazingo senior) to tell them his mother was dead. She was a really nice lady that loved her son Tom. They seemed really close. I don't know what happened to him after high school. I saw on the news around 2004? That Thomas Soria was arrested for murder. I was shocked but couldn't comment cause I only remember his as a young kid. Obviously things changed for him. It was weird reading the book for they referenced my old neighborhood and my neighborhood friends. I knew most if not all of the people mentioned in the book. It was a sick feeling reading this book and I had to put it down several times. I actually got sick at one point of the thought that someone I knew could have become such a terrible monster.

[Koren]

A true crime story of a father who had total control over his son. This guy could get his son to do anything, and I mean anything. The book raises the question: Is the son as guilty as the father when he was merely doing what he was told. There is a surprise ending that I did not see coming. Just a word of warning- there is a lot of graphic sex in this book so if you are squeamish about that I would skip it. The book held my interest until about half way when there was quite a bit of word for word testimony that was basically what we had been told already so for that reason I am deducting one star and only giving it a 4 star rating.

[Ronnie Cramer]

I guess this is an okay true crime book, even though it gets a little repetitious here and there. The biggest problem for me is that the main victim turns out to be a child; if I had known that I never would have started reading it.

[Kelly]

Interesting book. Well written.

[Vikki Tuck]

Heavy hearted reading

This book was hard to read. Certain parts i had to walk away and find something to replace my angry and thoughts that repulsed my heart si profusely to happy thoughts. I thought about this girl often for months and i decided to honor her by reading how they got caught what the punishment was sentenced down

[Lorie]

Very difficult

read, but a story that needed to be told. A cautionary tale, no, a true story. Scott writes as though the reader is experiencing first hand this terrible knowledge of one generation after the next in all its gory horror. I feel worse for the little girl, but also for the little boy that never had a chance.

[Patricia Farmer]

Horrendous

I have read about some of the worst killers throughout history, but these two definitely belong up there with the absolute worst of them. The author has really done his homework for this book, and relates the story in such a way as to keep the reader's attention from the beginning to the end.

[Joe Boucher]

Sad story

A true story that will pull at your heart strings. A very heart braking story and a child lost. Sad

[Margaret Morningstar]

Horrible crime should be read by anyone with a child.

So very sad. Makes you want to hold your child close! Well written I did not want to put it down.

[Mary]

Hard read but kept me reading on to finish

[Sabrina Rutter]

This is one of the saddest books I have ever read.
As a mother I can't even describe the heartache this book left me with.
When the mom went looking her for little girl she went to one of the neighbors apartments asking if her daughter was there. The teenage boy she was talking to was the last one seen with her daughter. She asked to look through their apartment for her child, but didn't go into the room that the teenager said his uncle was sleeping in because she didn't want to be rude. Later she learned that her daughter was in fact behind that closed door.

[Crystal Jarvis]

This book was really good.. Very sick in some ares I wanted to read something diffrent. Diffrent it was I never thought someone could do the things that happen in this book... Be ready to get mad and cry all at the same time... The father and son to some really nasty things in this book that you never thought people were capable of doing. It makes you really think again when you meet someone for the first time or whom your kids are around and even who you might live next to.

[Avery]

Only on chapter 8 at the moment, but I find the book to be a bit long winded. For the 1st eight chapters it goes on about past family members instead of the 2 the book is supposed to be about. I'm all for giving a bit of history into possibly what made them the way they are, but 8 chapters out of 17 of relatives and unrelated crimes those relatives committed is a bit excessive in my view.

[Astrid]

Thanks

Very good story. Things like this do happen close to home even if you don't want to see it. Keep an eye on each other that is all we can do. Rip you and all the little ones out there. Thanks for sharing stories like this to let us know what actually happens outside off our life.

[Rebecca]

I read a lot of true crime but this book was the first one to leave me with long lasting uneasiness. The darkest inner thought to ever flash across most people's mind couldn't touch anywhere close to Thomas Sorris and his wretched soul.

[Sophie]

sickos!!

[Courtney Himes]

Sick. Thats all I have to say about that.

[Tina]

Very disturbing book. OOh my word

[Amanda Hollingshead]

Horrific and disgusting.
My heart constantly ached for the boy that was...

[Aubrey Gutierrez]

I agree it is to long winded but it is like a train wreck once you start reading you can't seem to stop

[Mary Lou]

Very sad and sick...