DUXBURY, MASS. (WHDH)-A 22-year-old Duxbury man was sentenced to state prison Friday after he was convicted of drowning his father in an attempt to “baptize” him in 2021.
Jack Callahan was sentenced to four to six years in state prison after an eight-day trial in April, according to the Plymouth County District Attorney’s office. The Commonwealth requested that Callahan serve nine to 15 years.
On June 28, 2021, Duxbury police received a call to report that Callahan, then 19, was “acting erratically” and that his father, Scott Callahan, 56, was missing near Island Creek Pond at Crocker Park, the DA’s office said.
Police responded to the scene on Sampson Street in town and found Jack Callahan “distraught and hyperventilating,” according to the DA’s office. Around the same time, officials said, emergency crews found Scott Callahan submerged in nearby Island Creek Pond at Crocker Park.
“EMS performed life-saving measures and he was transported to Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital-Plymouth, where he was pronounced dead,” the DA’s office said.
The DA’s prosecutor’s office said presented evidence to jurors that Jack Callahan traveled to Boston to meet up with his father, retrieve him and return to Duxbury.
“The two took a ride-share vehicle home from Boston, and after midnight on June 28, the ride-share dropped the two men off in the vicinity of Island Creek Pond,” the DA’s office said. “There a physical alteration took place between the pair.”
Among allegations, investigators said Jack Callahan believed his father was possessed by a demon. Prosecutors said Jack told police he held his father underwater in an attempt to baptize him.
Scott Callahan’s cause of death was ruled to be drowning, according to the DA’s office.
A jury deliberated for approximately 25 hours before finding Callahan guilty of one count of involuntary manslaughter. The Commonwealth charged Callahan with one count of murder.
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