Nguyen Dinh Thi turned himself in to the police on Monday and made a full confession.
He told them that on Dec. 22 he had quarreled with his father, 53, at home. As the altercation escalated, he grabbed a tool, which the police have not identified, to hit his father and ended up killing him.
In a panic and fearing that others would find out, he burned the body, covered the remains with duct tape and concealed them.
Neighbors said Thi's parents had divorced long ago and the boy lived with his father.
On that fateful afternoon they had seen smoke and smelled something burning in Thi's house, but assumed the family was burning trash and so did not bother to check.