Mass. Son Accused of Drowning His Father in Baptism-Style Execution After Having Uber Driver Stop at Pond

The son believed his father was possessed by a demon called "Dirty Dan," prosecutors alleged

A jury trial began this week for a Massachusetts man accused of drowning his father during a mental health episode in 2021, during which he believed his father was “possessed” and that he was baptizing him in a local pond.

The Patriot Ledger reported that witnesses were called last week to testify in the trial that will determine whether Jack Callahan, 22, is guilty of murdering his father, Scott Callahan, 57, who was a senior vice president at Texas Capital Bank.

Callahan told police that his father was struggling with alcoholism and that he picked him up in an Uber after suspecting he was drinking at a bar, according to Boston.com.

But the then-19-year-old asked their Uber driver to drop them off at a local pond near their Duxbury, Mass., home, saying he wanted to smoke a cigarette, the outlet reported. There, an altercation between the father and son allegedly erupted.

“He indicated that the victim had been punching him in the face,” Plymouth Assistant District Attorney Shanan Buckingham said at the suspect’s 2021 arraignment, according to Boston.com. “He went on to state that in this incident at the pond, he believed he was baptizing his father. He described that he was holding his father in the pond on his back like a baby, that he continually dunked the father’s head in the water about four to eight times, that when the father started to cough and choke, he would lift his head up, and then when the father started to fight and strike him, he would push the head back into the water.”

The son continued to dunk his father in the water “until his father was no longer struggling and floating,” Buckingham alleged.

Prosecutors also alleged that Callahan had told police he believed his father was possessed by a demon named “Dirty Dan” and that baptizing him in the pond would release the evil spirit from him.

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Local WCVB reported at the time that Callahan “choked back tears” while prosecutors recalled the details of his father’s killing in court.

Callahan then told police later that night that he had spoken to his father’s body while he was in the water, after believing he had “baptized” him, according to prosecutors. “I left him there to decide, you can come to heaven with me or hell. I think he chose hell,” prosecutors alleged Callahan told police, according to CBS News.

Boston.com reported that Plymouth County Superior Court Judge William Sullivan said the trial was expected to take roughly a week and a half.

Callahan has pleaded not guilty to the murder charge.

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