PLYMOUTH, Massachusetts — A Massachusetts man charged with murder in the death of his father told police he was exorcising a demon and performing a baptism when he dunked his father’s head in a shallow pond, prosecutors said in court Tuesday.
Jack Callahan, 19, of Duxbury was held without bail after a not guilty plea was entered on his behalf at his arraignment.
Callahan is charged with killing Scott Callahan, 57, whose body was recovered from Island Creek Pond in Duxbury early Monday.
Plymouth Assistant District Attorney Shanan Buckingham said in court father and son had taken an Uber to the pond from Boston.
The younger man was at first trying to help his father, who had left a treatment center where he was being treated for alcohol abuse, Buckingham said.
The son dunked his father’s head under water several times until he stopped struggling, the prosecutor said.
The younger man’s attorney, Kevin Reddington, called his client a “very nice young man” with no criminal record and asked the judge to send him for a competency evaluation, which the judge denied.
Reddington said Callahan was suffering from a mental health issue.