A man in the Ozarks area of Missouri has been arrested and charged with first degree murder for allegedly killing his mother over an argument about inheritance.
Fox News Digital reported that it obtained documents regarding the case and the arrest of 39-year-old Derrick Alling. It said the documents show Alling is also facing armed criminal action charges.
Authorities were immediately suspicious of Alling when they arrived at the home of his mother, 65-year-old Carolyn Alling, last Thursday for a wellness check, said the Fox News Digital report. In addition to court documents it cited this FOX 8 report.
Deputies from the Christian County Sheriff’s Office had been called to the scene at around 9:30 p.m. after receiving a call from her husband, Alling’s stepfather. He was concerned because Carolyn wasn’t answering her phone.
When they arrived, Alling was there, and authorities began asking him questions about Carolyn’s whereabouts. His answers are what reportedly made them suspicious. Sheriff Brad Cole told FOX that they “had a gut feeling that something wasn’t quite right.”
Alling told the deputies that his mother was in a guest house on the family’s property. He didn’t answer when asked about her condition, according to reports.
Then, when asked if his mother was alive, Alling allegedly said he “didn’t think so.”
At that, authorities detained him, Cole said. As they continued investigating, they found Carolyn’s body in the guest house. She appeared to have been “brutally” beaten to death with a “gardening or scraping tool,” FOX 8 reported.
Carolyn’s husband said Alling had made repeated threats toward the victim and had demanded his inheritance from her, according to the court documents cited by Fox News Digital. Authorities also said she had been recording her son acting aggressively towards her in the weeks before the alleged murder.
“Prosecutors also revealed the stepfather also told police that he and his wife chose to ‘keep their marriage secret for fear of the defendant acting violently toward them if he found out,’” Fox News Digital’s report said.
Fox News Digital said it was unable to immediately locate an attorney representing Derrick Alling, though he has reportedly pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to appear in court on Oct. 14. It also said the Christian County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to its request for comment.
An obituary for a Carolyn Alesia Alling indicates that she was born and grew up in Missouri. She then moved to California, where she married, went to college and started a career as a dental hygienist before moving back to her home state. Per the obituary, she was preceded in death by her first husband and a daughter, and survived by her current husband (who it indicates she was with for 12 years), a son, stepchildren and grandchildren.
According to research published this year by EBSCO, parricide, or the murder of parents, accounts for 1% of all homicides in the U.S. Since it is rare, cases often attract media attention – such as the Menendez brothers’ case. Parricide is more often committed by men and people over the age of 18
“The motivations behind parricide can vary, with some offenders being severely abused or mentally ill, while others may view their parents as obstacles to their desires,” said the research.