A troubled teen and self-professed “pot head” allegedly shot and killed his parents over the weekend, according to authorities.
Mike and April Holton, both 37, returned to their Eclectic, Alabama home Sunday to find the house trashed after a party thrown by their 17-year-old son Jesse Holton.
Mike Holton, the former mayor of Eclectic and a volunteer firefighter, called the sheriff’s department Sunday afternoon. When an officer arrived at the house, he found that the father had handcuffed his son to “get his attention.”
“They obviously were trying to discipline their son, and they had had problems with him in the past,” Elmore County Sheriff Bill Franklin told the Associated Press.
Officers photographed the damage to the property and collected evidence which included a pipe used to smoke marijuana. Mike Holton told the responding officer that he and his wife planned to sign a juvenile arrest warrant against Jesse for damage to the property and drug use Monday morning.
Officers left the Holton residence to respond to another call and according to Franklin, “everything was calm when the deputy left.” Officers received a call from a neighbor about 30 minutes later saying that Jesse was at their house and said his parents were fighting.
When a deputy returned to the Holton residence, he found Mike and April Holton in the master bedroom of the home. Mike was dead of a gunshot wound to the head and April, who had also been shot in the head, was in critical condition. She later died at a hospital on Monday.
Jesse told officers that his father shot his mother during an argument and then turned the gun on himself. However, Frankilin says that Jesse’s description did not match the physical evidence. A forensics examination and preliminary investigation determined that neither Mike nor April Holton’s wounds were self-inflicted.
Jesse Holton was arrested and charged as an adult with murder in the death of his father, Mike Holton. Investigators expect Jesse Holton will be charged in the death of his mother, April Holton, pending autopsy results, People reports.
“He (Jesse Holton) hasn’t shown any emotion at all.” Franklin said. “He just said, ‘I didn’t do it, I didn’t do it.”
Eclectic, Alabama is a small close knit community where everyone knows each other and Mike and April Holton were well known members of the Eclectic community Franklin said. The couple has two younger children who are with relatives.