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A 69-year-old woman in Texas was allegedly murdered by her adult son, with cops believing he “possibly” used a hammer to bludgeon his “loving, caring mom” to death on Wednesday night, according to police and family members.
The son’s stepbrother, as well as responding officers, found him pacing in and out of the house that they shared together — gripping the tool in his hand — while his mother lay dead in the garage, cops and family say.
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“Dad, you need to come home real quick. Jarell just did something to momma Eva,” the stepbrother told his father, Curtis Peavy, during a frantic phone call that Peavy described to local CBS affiliate KHOU on Thursday after his wife, Eva Peavy, of Harris County, was allegedly murdered by her son Jarell Joseph on Wednesday night.
“I said, ‘what do you mean?’ He said, ‘I got here and just saw a body laying in the garage,’” Peavy recalled. “I was kind of numb to the fact at first, and so forth, that I just didn’t feel anything … That’s her son, but I raised him. I mean, I was the only dad in his life.”
Joseph, who is charged with first-degree murder, is accused of attacking his mom while his stepbrother was home with them. They all live together at a home on Ellesmere Drive in Woodforest, a neighborhood in the Houston metro area.
“Joseph allegedly killed his mother, possibly using a hammer,” the Harris County Sheriff’s Office reported in a press release Thursday. Police officials told KHOU that the 35-year-old was taken into custody without incident after giving up the hammer he was holding.
“When deputies arrived, he put it down and cooperated and was detained without incident,” said HCSO Sgt. Michael Ritchie, according to local ABC affiliate KTRK. “His stepbrother was also home. He observed his stepbrother with a hammer. His brother was not really speaking to him and was acting indifferent, and so the individual that came home and observed all this just kept his distance.”
Eva Peavy and Joseph allegedly had a rocky relationship, and Joseph suffered from mental health problems, according to his stepdad. Court records obtained by KHOU show that he was arrested for domestic violence against his mom in the past.
“He attacked her the first time when he tried choking her,” Peavy said. “My mom was there and came to her rescue.”
Joseph was allegedly diagnosed “as schizophrenic and bipolar,” according to his stepdad, which was exacerbated by alleged drug use.
“He had gotten on that synthetic weed,” Peavy said, noting how he and Eva had gotten Joseph to go to rehab and take medication, which he allegedly stopped doing.
“(She was a) loving, caring mom,” Peavy said. “I know it’s just the peace of God that’s keeping me together right now.”