DA: Man convicted of manslaughter after seeing ‘demon’ in father’s eyes, drowning him in 2021
A young man was convicted of involuntary manslaughter on Thursday for an “exorcism” killing of his father in Duxbury in 2021, according to authorities.
Jack Callahan, now 22, was found guilty of one count of involuntary manslaughter after an 8-day trial in Plymouth Superior Court, according to Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz. He will be sentenced on May 3.
On June 28, 2021, around 2 a.m., police received a call that Callahan, who was 19 years old at the time, was acting erratically and his father, 57-year-old Scott Callahan, was missing in the area of Island Creek Pond at Crocker Park.
Investigators say the duo had taken a ride-share vehicle home from Boston earlier in the night and the car dropped them off near Island Creek Pond where the two began fighting.
Scott’s body was eventually found in a pond at the park and officials said Jack Callahan admitted he was holding his father’s head underwater to try to get rid of demons.
“He believed he was baptizing his father. He described he was holding his father in the pond on his back and continually dunked his father’s head in the water about four to eight times,” The Plymouth DA’s Office said at the time.
The family’s home on Sampson Street was just a few blocks away.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined that Scott’s cause of death was drowning and the manner was homicide, noting he had water-logged lungs and an abrasion on his head.
The Commonwealth sought to charge Jack Callahan with murder.
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