A 19-year-old man has been charged with murder for allegedly killing his father by “baptizing” him in a nearby pond in an effort to exorcise his demons, WHDH reports.
Jack Callahan was arrested Monday morning after his mother, Wendy, notified authorities hours earlier that her son arrived home in wet clothes and claimed that his father, Scott, was missing. When police arrived, they noticed that Jack appeared to be “in a mental state and hyperventilating.” Callahan told investigators that he couldn’t recall anything because he had “blacked out.”
An investigation into Scott’s disappearance revealed that he and Jack were dropped off at Crocker Park during an Uber ride that was supposed to go from a Boston bar to their home in the town of Duxbury. Jack allegedly borrowed the Uber driver’s phone to call his mother before requesting a detour to the pond. The driver said Scott appeared to be intoxicated at the time.
Police initially discovered items belonging to Jack in the park before finding Scott’s body floating in the pond alongside two pieces of luggage. Scott was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. An autopsy report found water in his lungs and an abrasion on the back of his head.
Jack told investigators at the hospital that he took an Uber to pick up his father, who had recently left a treatment center to address his alcohol issues. Jack claims he saw a “demon” in his father’s eyes during the altercation at the pond.
“He went on to state — in this incident at the pond — that he believed he was baptizing his father. He described that he was holding his father in the pond, on his back, like a baby,” prosecutor Shanan Buckingham said. “He continually dunked the father’s head in the water, about four to eight times…When the father started to fight and strike him, he pushed the head back down into the water. He did so until his father was no longer struggling.”
According to Buckingham, Jack said he was trying to exorcise his father’s demonic spirits, one of which he referred to as “Dirty Dan.” Investigators were informed by witnesses that Jack may have been dealing with ongoing mental health issues that “recently surfaced.”
A judge has granted Buckingham’s request that Jack be held without bail until he’s scheduled to appear in court on Aug. 12.
