95\. The Fatal Exorcism - The Murder of Scott Callahan
36:04 Share

Most weight loss plans are one size fits all, not taking into account each person's individual needs. Noom is here to change that. Noom Weight uses psychology. That's why they say, "Losing weight starts with your brain, but it also takes into account your unique biological factors, which also affect weight loss success."

The program helps you understand the science behind your eating choices and why you have cravings. Everyone's journey is different, so your daily lessons are personalized to you and your goals. One of the great things about Noom is that it's nourishing instead of restrictive. They focus on progress instead of perfection.

You don't have to give up carbs, or anything for that matter. Have cravings? Food FOMO? Noom can help you lose weight while still enjoying your favorite foods. To date, Noom has helped more than 5.2 million people lose weight. Stay focused on what's important to you. With Noom's psychology and biology-based approach, sign up for your trial today at Noom.com.

That's N-O-O-M dot com.

So it's a new year, 2025, and you're thinking, how am I going to make this year different? How am I going to build something for myself? Shopify is how. The best time to start your new business is right now. Shopify makes it simple to create your brand, open for business, and get your first sale. Get your store up and running easily with thousands of customizable templates. No coding or design skills required. All you need to do is drag and drop. There

Their powerful social media tools let you connect all your channels and create shoppable posts and help you sell everywhere people scroll. Shopify makes it easy to manage your growing business. They help with the details like shipping, taxes, and payments from one single dashboard, allowing you to focus on the important stuff, like growing your business. What happens if you don't act now? Will you regret it? What if someone beats you to the idea? Don't kick yourself when you hear this again in a year because you didn't do anything now.

With Shopify, your first sale is closer than you think. Established in 2025 has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? Sign up for your $1 per month trial period at shopify.com slash crimes, all lowercase. Go to shopify.com slash crimes to start selling with Shopify today. Shopify.com slash crimes. You're listening to an Ono Media podcast.

Hey everyone and welcome back to the Into the Dark podcast. I am your host Peyton Moreland and I am

so glad that you are here if you are watching on youtube and can turn on notifications and give this video a thumbs up even drop a comment it's a great way to support the show and if you are listening on audio and you give me a five star glowing beaming review i would appreciate it again though you just listening here is tons of support for me and i can't thank you enough

All right, you guys, today for my 10 seconds, I wanted to talk about a little self-care routine that maybe you can implement into your life just to feel literally a little bit better. Something I love to do that just immediately helps me is lighting a candle. I know that that seems so dumb, but even if you just clean up like a small space, like you don't even have to clean the whole room, just your bed or something, okay? And then you light a candle, maybe turn on some like

background music and just sit and take a couple breaths it really can reset your day I personally find it great for helping my nervous system and I know lighting a candle is like not revolutionary but something about it just makes me feel put together so if you're feeling like maybe you aren't

Like me? You could try this, okay? Just try it and let me know in the comments if it helps. Now let's jump into the case. Okay, so there's a question that comes up a lot of the time when you're reading the news or catching up on a friend's life or really encountering anything dark in the real world. And that is, does actual pure evil exist?

Like, is anyone so bad at their core that there's nothing to them that is worth saving?

It's definitely a question you'll find yourself asking with some true crime stories. And it's one that honestly I have struggled with for a long time. Some murders are so gruesome, so cruel and so inexplicable that you have to wonder how the killer could go so wrong. You can try to explain it with psychology, greed or circumstance, but is evil like pure evil born inherently evil crime?

An ingredient too? I mean, it really depends on who you ask. Because honestly, as bad as some people can seem, everyone tends to have good qualities if you look under the surface. I mean, even the worst of the worst aren't just pure evil. And in some cases, people who seem terrible actually have good reasons for the things they do. One great example of that was a man named Scott Callahan.

In 2021, he was 57 years old and a father of three, all boys. He was a boy dad. He worked in a bank, but Scott was also an outdoorsy type who enjoyed skiing and biking. He was also a dog lover and he lived in Duxbury, Massachusetts. Again, we're in year 2021.

Now, Duxbury is a small seaside town not too far from Cape Cod. It's quiet, it draws a small number of tourists, and it has a lot of rich history going back centuries to before the Revolutionary War.

And as for Scott himself, like most of us, he had some bad qualities. Among other things, he had a serious drinking problem and he abused controlled substances. He seemed to have a lot of issues with self-control and in turn, this caused stress and heartache for his family, as you can imagine. So on

On the surface, it might be tempting to just say, you know, Scott's being selfish and hurting the people around him. He was making them miserable and he didn't seem likely to change anytime soon. Except, like I said before, people are complex. As serious as his flaws were, there was a reason that Scott was struggling so much.

See, at some point in the past, Scott had suffered from a terrible head injury. He had survived, but he never fully recovered. And the damage had changed his personality. And among other things, it prevented him from being able to make well thought out decisions. I mean, he literally wasn't physically capable of thinking in a healthy, productive way anymore. So yes, Scott was very difficult to get along with in a lot of ways.

but it wasn't necessarily all his fault. And it definitely wasn't a sign that he was evil. It was just a bad situation and honestly something that was completely out of his control.

Now, I mentioned before that Scott had three sons, and by 2021, they are adults. One was 19-year-old Jack, who'd only graduated from high school one year earlier in 2020. And after his graduation, he'd moved out of state for a logging job. But after injuring his back, he had to come back home and figure out what else to do with his life. So now Jack was living with his mom again. At this point, she was divorced from Scott, but Scott still lived close by.

which meant Jack had a lot of opportunity to see his father's bad behavior and his ongoing struggles with substance abuse.

Now, Jack, the son, had a well-earned reputation as a kind, sweet young man. He really cared about the people around him and his father was no exception. I mean, the two of them were very close. I think Jack could see that some of his father's behavior wasn't necessarily his fault. So they spent Father's Day together in 2021 and took a very sweet photo of themselves smiling and hugging.

But no matter how close they got, Jack and his other family members and friends knew something had to be done. I mean, at this point, Scott, his dad, was pretty out of control. And sometime that summer, they actually arranged for him to be involuntarily committed to a rehab clinic.

Now, the people who loved him believed this was the only way to get him the help that he needed. So they drove Scott out to a town called Hopkinton, which was about an hour away from his home. He stayed there for a while, but on the 27th, before his treatment was complete, Scott actually left the clinic. He checked himself out.

And I don't want to make it sound like he quit the program and ran away. His doctors actually approved him to leave that day, even though he wasn't sober yet. See, sadly, while Scott was in rehab, his mother had passed away. And so Scott got permission to leave the clinic and go to her memorial service in Boston.

So the plan was for him to go to the service, spend some quality time with his loved ones, and then afterward make the hour-long drive back to the clinic again. So he'd only be gone for one day, and then his treatment would resume right away.

So Scott checks out, he goes to the memorial, and afterward, the entire family got together to have dinner and mourn as a group. But Scott decides he does not want to go to this gathering, and I don't have the full details on why he wanted to skip it, but I do know that Jack, his son...

thought Scott was making a mistake. I mean, this is his mother's memorial service. All the family is going to be there. And I think Jack felt like it was just one more way that Scott was not showing up for the family. Jack thought that if Scott skipped this get together, he'd come to regret it later, maybe when he was sober. So Scott didn't want to go. And Jack kept telling him he should. And they eventually get into a fairly heated argument about this. And

I feel so much for Jack and Scott in this moment because Jack just desperately wants to help his father. But it seems Scott is so far down in addiction that he can't even see it. So eventually Jack won and Scott agreed to go out with the family. And then after they'd spend some time eating and talking and remembering the deceased, and then he would leave on his hour-long trip back to the hospital.

Well, a little later that night, Scott's sister got a call and it was someone from the rehab clinic. And they said, "Hey, Scott still hasn't come back to the clinic. He hasn't made it back. Did he leave?" And his sister's like,

Well, enough time has passed since he left to go back to the clinic that he definitely should have arrived to the facility by now. So clearly, he was probably somewhere that he wasn't supposed to be. I mean, in most cases, when we get to this point in the case, a lot of families are like, did something bad happen? Did they get an accident? But in this case, Scott's family is like, did he really just decide to blow off the treatment entirely, especially after this big, huge fight with his son?

And Jack, his son, is very worried by this, but the rest of the family sort of shrugs it off. I guess Scott had been in and out of trouble enough times by now that nobody was really surprised. It was almost like Scott is an adult and he doesn't listen to us anyways. It was his decision whether he wanted to take his recovery seriously or not. So to all appearances, Jack, his son, was actually the only person who had any desire to go find his father that night.

And he couldn't let go of the idea that maybe Scott didn't do this voluntarily. Maybe he did need help. So he got to be obsessive, calling Scott, calling other friends in the Boston area who might have spotted him, maybe looking at a Find My Friends app. He was doing anything he could do to figure out where his father was and if he was okay.

He eventually asked a particular friend to help him. And I'm not sure exactly what that friend did or how he helped. But I do know he and Jack did eventually track Scott down. And where they found Scott was not surprising, but nonetheless disappointing. Scott was in a bar. He was drunk, very drunk.

So when Jack got to the bar to confront his father, Scott announced that he was spending the night in Boston, that he had no intention of going back to rehab that night. In fact, he says he'd already booked a room at a nearby Hilton Hotel.

But to all appearances, he hadn't actually checked in yet because he still had his bags and luggage with him. Everything he'd taken when he'd left the rehab clinic earlier that day. Anyway, Scott said that once he was ready to leave the bar, he'd go spend the night at the Hilton and that was his plan. He just wanted to be left alone, which put Jack in a tough situation. He obviously doesn't feel okay abandoning his father in the state he's in, but he also knows he can't force him to go back to the clinic.

So instead, Jack comes up with a different solution to this problem. And the actions he took next would prove to be controversial. Does your wallet need a break after the holidays? Kick off your 2025 by downloading Ibotta. You can get cash back on all your purchases all while sticking to your budget and the brands you love. Ibotta is a free app that lets you earn cash back instantly.

every single time you shop. You can earn on hundreds of items from groceries to toys to tech. It's super easy. You simply add offers in the app, upload your receipt, and voila, the money is yours. You just earn cash back that you can withdraw to your bank account, PayPal, or through gift cards. The average Ibotta user earns $256 per year. You can save on over $2,000

thousand four hundred brands and shop at over one thousand retailers so join the over fifty million smart shoppers who use ibotta to earn cash back on everyday purchases you guys it is so easy all i do is open the app i add my offers i upload my receipt

And then I get cash back. It is so easy. So right now, Ibotta is offering our listeners $5 just for trying Ibotta by using the code crime when you register. If you go to Ibotta and you register using code crime, $5. Just go to the App Store or Google Play Store and download the free Ibotta app to start earning cash back and use code crime. That's Ibotta, I-B-O-T-T-A in the Google Play or App Store and use code crime.

To me, after the holidays, the snow and cold goes from being fun and festive to harsh and slushy. And even those of us that love cold weather need something to break up long winter nights. And that's why I like to treat myself to a little something. But I don't want to spend a fortune on my winter blues. And that's where Quince comes in. Fun fact, I'm actually wearing a Quince sweat set right now. You guys know I love Quince. It's clothing. It's affordable clothing that is luxurious. It is high quality. It

It is the basics that you need in your life. Something that everyone needs in their closet, in my opinion, is Quince's iconic Mongolian cashmere sweaters, which start at only $50. But you guys, it is real cashmere. The reason they're able to do that is they partner directly with top factories that cut out the cost of the middleman and then pass the savings on to you. So you get real luxurious cashmere at a lower price.

And Quince only works with factories that use safe, ethical, and responsible manufacturing practices. And of course, they use premium fabrics and finishes for that luxury feel in every piece. And I love their silk skirts. I cannot recommend them enough. So treat yourself this winter without the luxury price tag. Go to quince.com slash dark for 365-day returns plus free shipping on your order. That's quince, Q-U-I-N-C-E dot com slash dark to get free shipping and 365-day returns.

quince.com dark so first jack called the hilton where his father was supposed to be staying and cancelled his booking he said that scott wouldn't spend the night in the hotel but he was going to come home with him now maybe jack just didn't trust scott to have self-control in the hotel maybe he was worried that his father would sneak out again and go back to the bar that he was a danger to others or himself

But if that was the concern, Jack could have stayed in the room with him to keep an eye on everything. He didn't need to haul Scott all the way back home to make sure he didn't drink. So whatever his reasoning, Jack told his father, Scott, that they were leaving Boston immediately and going back home. But Scott was too drunk to drive. He was visibly intoxicated. But in spite of that, a friend actually offered to let him borrow his truck. And

And even in his drunken state, Scott's like, eh, it's probably not a good idea. So he turned down the offer to drive himself home. And Jack either couldn't drive or he didn't feel comfortable taking that truck for some reason. So instead, he called an Uber to take them all the way back to Jack's place where he lived with his mom and Scott's ex-wife, which seems to be the end of the debate. The Uber showed up, Jack said it was time to leave, and he actually managed to get Scott out the door and into the car.

Now, before I move on from this part of the story, I do want to say one more thing about Jack and Scott's conversation in that bar. Because there were a lot of people around and a lot of witnesses saw them arguing about

And they all agreed that Jack, his son, came across as weirdly pushy. He had a specific idea of how the night would play out and he wasn't willing to even consider other possibilities. He was very stern with his father. He would not take his father back to his hotel. He would not borrow the friend's truck and he would not do anything else. From the outside looking in, this might be weird.

But I also think it's a bit understandable given how worried and stressed and tired he had to be after taking care of his father.

Scott was drunk and potentially out of control. Jack was probably freaking out a little bit, like this is just another big thing that his father is putting him through. But even knowing all of that, he still came across as overly controlling to the other bar patrons. They seemed to agree that he could have handled the situation in another way, but instead he insisted on getting his way, forcing his father into the Uber that he'd called when his father didn't want to, and then they went on the hour-long drive back home.

So by the time they reached town, it was just after midnight on the morning of June 28th.

And Jack didn't want to surprise his mother, Wendy, by showing up unannounced in the middle of the night with his drunk father and her ex. So he called her. And I'm not sure why he did this, but he used his Uber driver's phone, not his phone. And he was kind of making strange decisions that from the outside don't make sense. But still, Wendy picked up the call from the unknown number in the middle of the night and Jack, her son, explained what was going on.

And as soon as Wendy heard the entire story, she was like, nope.

don't come here Scott is not allowed in my house she knew how difficult he could be when he was drinking she didn't want to deal with it and it's worth remembering that Wendy and Scott were divorced so even though she likely didn't want Scott to get hurt she also knew that his well-being for the night wasn't her responsibility she put her foot down hung up and now Jack has no idea where to go with his father Austin was now far behind them the hotel he had canceled and

So while Scott and Jack were sitting in the back seat trying to figure out what to do, the Uber driver happened to drive past a local park and it had a beautiful pond in it called Island Creek Pond. It wasn't too far from where Jack and his mother lived. Now, Island Creek Pond is huge. It stretches across 35 acres, but at its deepest, it is only eight feet down. So kind of picture a peaceful wooded area that's fairly remote and quiet,

And the moment Jack looked out the window and saw this park with the pond, he thought that this would be the perfect place to sit with his father and let him sober up. In the middle of the night sounds weird, but maybe they had nowhere else to go. So he told the Uber driver to just pull over there. And then he and Scott got out and walked into the park. It was totally empty because again, it is after midnight. It's dark out.

No one was around to witness whatever happens next. What I do know is that when Jack came back to his mother's home later, something was wrong. He was soaking wet. He wasn't acting like himself. And I'm not sure exactly what he was saying or doing or what was so odd about his behavior. All that the police reports say is that he was acting erratically. He was off enough that one day he was like,

Something's up. And all she can think is, Jack, if you were babysitting your father, where is Scott? There was no sign of him. And when Wendy asked where he was, Jack wouldn't give her a straight answer. He just said, Dad's missing.

which didn't make much sense. At midnight, the two of them had been together at a quiet deserted pond. Scott had been drunk, plus even if he was willing to drive under the influence, he didn't have a car nearby, so it's not like he drove away. How does a person go missing when they're completely alone with another person? The whole story is not adding up, and because of Jack's behavior and the fact that he's soaking wet, Wendy decides she needs to call 911. She tells the operator everything that she's already pieced together,

She also said that Jack, quote, appeared to be having an episode. And I think this speaks volumes about how Jack was acting. So even though his mother didn't know exactly what was going on, she thought it was best for the police to get involved and the dispatchers agreed. So some investigators arrived right away. And the first thing they did was question Jack. I mean, at this point, all they know that Jack's come home.

He's clearly not in a good state. He's having an episode. He's soaking wet and his father is missing. Except when investigators arrive at the house, they find Jack very hard to talk to. Not because he was resistant or argumentative, because he was upset. He was nervous. And as soon as the police came into his room and tried to speak to him, he started breathing so fast and hard that he actually hyperventilated and passed out because of the way he was breathing.

So the investigators had to call an ambulance and get Jack treatment before he could give them a full statement. But eventually he did share what he claimed to know, which according to him wasn't much. Jack said that when they got to the park, he blacked out everything that had happened that night. The last thing he remembered was being in the Uber with his dad and that they were driving past the pond right after his mother had told him not to bring Scott home. And that's when on impulse, Jack said he asked the Uber driver to pull over and let them out.

Except Jack claims that for whatever reason, Scott didn't want to stop there. And he said he was so resistant to getting out of the car that before it even had a chance to slow to a stop, Scott punched Jack in the face. And Jack claims that everything after that was a total blank. It was just his dad hitting him. And then hours later, Jack recalled walking in through the front door of his house and seeing his mom. That was it.

So obviously the investigators next stop was Island Creek Pond and they brought first responders, firefighters and ambulance technicians with them. So if they did find Scott, they would immediately get him help. And they also had dogs to try and track him down. And even with all of this support, it took over an hour for them to locate the missing man. So after a lengthy search, they found Scott in the water about 50 feet away from the shore.

He wasn't swimming or floating on the surface. He was completely submerged. So diving team had to pull him out because he wasn't reachable from the land. And it was actually 3.30 a.m. So about an hour and a half had passed since Wendy had called 911. Scott's luggage, all the things he'd taken with him when he checked out of the rehab clinic, was also in the water. Like his body and his things had both been dumped there. Except...

That wasn't entirely true because Scott's body hadn't been dumped because he actually wasn't dead yet. Miraculously, even after all the time that he had spent underwater, the first responders said he was alive. However, he wasn't breathing and his condition was very dire. So the paramedics did everything they could to try and revive him at the scene. And when that didn't work, they rushed Scott to the hospital. But sadly, he was declared dead pretty soon after he arrived in the emergency room.

And the police already had pretty strong evidence to indicate that his death was not an accident. He didn't just go for a late night drunk swim and then get too tired and sink into the pond. In fact, Scott's autopsy came back and showed major trauma to his head, meaning someone had beaten him and then left him in the water when he was too hurt to swim back to shore.

So Scott's cause of death was technically drowning because he had water in his lungs, but he wouldn't have drowned if not for the injuries to his head. So this was why the medical examiner ruled his cause of death as a homicide. And given how strange Jack had been acting that night and that he was the last person to see his dad in the park, he was suspect number one. But the big question is,

Why would he do it and what happened? How did he get from spending Father's Day with Scott being the only person who's concerned about his father's drinking and well-being to then drowning him in a pond in the middle of the night?

But obviously, as we know, Jack had a motive for the murder that at least made sense to him. Have you ever tried a one size fits all weight loss plan that just doesn't work for you? Noom understands that everyone's journey is different, and that's why Noom creates personalized programs tailored to your psychology and biology.

It's a plan that meets you where you are, factoring in your unique dietary needs, health goals, and lifestyle. Numas helped me redefine my relationship with food. It's not about restrictions or shame. It's about building healthier habits that actually stick.

I love how the app's daily lessons and coaching keep me motivated while still allowing me to enjoy my favorite foods. It's flexible, sustainable, and most importantly, works for me. And did you know active Noom users lose an average of 15 pounds in 15 weeks? That's science-backed progress without sacrificing the foods you love. Over 5.2 million people have already used Noom to achieve their goals. So why aren't you?

Stay focused on what's important to you with Noom's psychology and biology-based approach. Sign up for your trial today at Noom.com. Based on a three and a half year study of actively engaged Noom users with a minimum starting BMI of 25, individual results may vary. Visit their website for more information. Do you guys know that solving mysteries keeps me on my toes, but staying fit?

That used to be the real challenge, but enter Peloton, my partner in crime fighting and fitness. Let me tell you, Peloton has been a game changer in my hectic life, whether I'm deep into researching or juggling podcast recordings, Peloton has got my back. They've got everything from quick 10 minute workouts when I'm crunched for time to longer sessions when I need to really decompress after a heavy episode.

And I love that I can switch it up too. One day I'm doing yoga to clear my mind, the next I'm on a virtual run. And the best part? It's all on my schedule. Live classes, on-demand workouts, Peloton fits into my unpredictable life like a perfect alibi. With the all-access membership, I can work out at home or use the app when I'm out.

It's honestly like having a fitness accomplice wherever I go. So whether you're in your true crime era, your busy parent era, or just you're trying to stay sane era, Peloton's got what you need. So find your push, find your power with Peloton at onepeloton.com. See, after multiple interrogations, Jack eventually admitted, okay, I didn't black out that night. He knew exactly what had happened.

And he told the police that when he and Scott were out at the pond, he saw a demon in Scott's eyes. And he wasn't talking metaphorically. Like, he literally believed that his father's body was harboring a demon from hell, and he saw the proof in his father's eyes. Not only did Jack think he saw at least one demon, but he also knew its name. According to Jack, it was called Dirty Dan.

and he also believed that there were other demons in his father's body besides dirty dan but it doesn't sound like he shared their names with the investigators anyways as jack explained to the police he says that night when he saw dirty dan inside his father he decided that his father needed an exorcism that he needed to get the demon out of his father and

That was why Jack offered Scott a choice. Did he want to be on the side of heaven or the side of hell? And

I don't know exactly how Scott responded to that question, but Jack said that in his opinion, his dad chose hell. So then a fight broke out. And remember how Jack initially said that all he could remember was that that night his father punching him in the car? Apparently that was at least partially true because Scott hit Jack in the face and in the heat of the moment, according to Jack,

He tried to steer Scott toward the pond. He didn't want to hurt him necessarily. He told the police that he just wanted to baptize his father because maybe that would save him from the demon inside of him. So somehow Jack got Scott onto his back in the water and with his arms under Scott's head. Picture someone who's floating and someone else is helping support their head and keep it above the water so they can breathe.

Except several times, Jack estimated this happened between four and eight times. And he stopped holding Scott's head up. He pushed his head down and dunked him. So he's kind of like holding him and then dunking him, holding him and then dunking him. And each time Jack let his father resurface, Scott was obviously thrashing and fighting. I don't think he wanted to be baptized. I don't even think he knew he was being baptized. He was trying to defend himself.

But Jack saw this as a sign that the demon inside his father was resisting the baptism. So then he'd dunk him again and hold him down until the thrashing stopped. And he repeated this over and over and over again. This is so awful. Until he let his dad back up and his dad wasn't fighting anymore. He wasn't moving at all.

So Jack let him go and stopped supporting his body. And Scott simply floated in the water. According to Jack, at this point, he wasn't like, oh, the exorcism worked. He said, I think I realized my dad was dead. But also Jack believed his soul was lost and that the baptism didn't work and that the demons had won. So defeated, Jack decided to just leave his father behind in the water.

Went back home where his mother called 911. So I think it's important to say that in that context, it sounds like Jack isn't just evil. He did something truly terrible.

It seems like he did it because he was having some serious mental health problems. In fact, the cruel crime he committed was part of his attempt to defeat evil in his mind. He killed his father due to a misguided plan to save him. Interestingly, Jack had never had any noticeable symptoms of a mental health condition before this point.

And he also didn't have any history of violence. He'd never done anything remotely like this before. The police even asked Wendy if she'd ever seen any warning signs before that night, any episodes. She said no. Still, not long after they arrested him, the police took Jack in for a psychiatric evaluation to see if he was even well enough to stand trial. They also wanted to ensure that he wouldn't hurt himself because they saw some worrying signs that he might attempt self-harm.

At one point, some officials caught Jack in his cell, banging his head against the floor. So the mental health professionals determined that Jack did know right from wrong, so he could go to trial. But that didn't stop his lawyers from asking for a second opinion. This wasn't just a legal strategy. I mean, it seemed at this point Jack wasn't backing down on his defense. He believed his story.

So the attorney is concerned about Jack's well-being. He was worried that Jack might need counseling or medication, help that was more focused and intense than what he would get in jail.

So when the lawyer brought his concerns to the judge, he ruled that Jack's first evaluation would stand. He didn't want to slow down the legal process with multiple doctor's appointments or a long dragged out mental health hearing. Instead, he said the process would move forward and then asked Jack for his plea. This point, Jack burst into tears and said, not guilty. The judge ordered him to be held without bail because he seemed like he could pose a danger to the general public.

So Jack's trial began in April of 2024. And interestingly enough, the jury did not get to hear the same story that I just shared with you earlier. The whole account about Scott being possessed by a demon and Jack wanting to exercise it and perform a baptism, it was inadmissible. So the trial was pretty short, only eight days long.

Jack didn't take the stand to testify in his own defense. Instead, his lawyer tried to argue that nobody could prove Jack had killed his father. There were no witnesses and no physical evidence putting him at the scene of the crime. And I know it's hard to buy that reasoning when we know that Jack had already confessed to the murder.

But since the jury didn't get to hear that full story, I'm assuming they also didn't know about that confession. Like if that was ruled out, they probably don't know that he confessed in that way. And it sounds like this was the best argument his lawyer could make given the circumstances. And as for the prosecution, they argued that this was an intentional cold-blooded murder.

They said that if Jack really wanted to help and care for his father, he would have made different choices that night. He would have taken Scott back to the hotel instead of dragging him back home where he couldn't even stay. He would have never gotten anywhere near the pond. Instead, they believe he'd purposely set in motion a chain of events that could only end in Scott's violent death. And of course, he then lied to try and cover up the crime later.

Told the police he blacked out. He couldn't remember what happened to Scott. But truth was, he'd known the truth the whole time. Again.

That whole narrative has some grains of truth in it, but it doesn't sound completely consistent with the evidence. But this may be one of the cases where both sides were operating under limitations about what they could or couldn't say. Either way, it's clear that the jury was conflicted about everything they'd heard. In fact, they spent 25 hours in deliberation. When they came out, they announced that they didn't think Jack had committed murder.

They acquitted him for the charge. He was found guilty of a lesser charge, involuntary manslaughter. For this, he was sentenced to four to six years in prison. And that's actually considerably less than the maximum sentence for involuntary manslaughter. He could have been locked up for nine to 15 years.

Sounds like, to me, the judge maybe felt compassion for him. I mean, even though he didn't let Jack get another psychiatric evaluation, he may have still believed that he wasn't fully culpable for what he did. Now, going back to the beginning of the story, I think it's safe to say that nobody involved in this case was evil. Scott clearly had substance and alcohol abuse issues, maybe even some mental health issues.

he wasn't evil and unless jack is like an incredibly good actor and sociopath who never showed signs of violence before this i'm not sure he planned to murder his father in cold blood i mean okay let's consider the possibility that his story about the demons was just a ruse that he said it because he felt like this is how he could get off with murder even then

I feel like what most likely happened is he's so frustrated with his father and his father's behavior and babysitting him that when his mom said, no, you can't come home and it's the middle of the night and they're in the Uber and he's like, I just got to get my dad out of here and they get to the park. Maybe the argument did get heated and Jack was so fed up that he killed his father. Again, it's murder. I just think that's more probable than a big plan.

planned out first degree murder. Needless to say, I think there was something mentally or emotionally that contributed to the situation.

And as for the demon Jack claimed to see, Dirty Dan, obviously I don't think Dirty Dan exists. There's probably no hellish evil beast involved in this case. I just think the world is not black and white. Sometimes people do really bad things for reasons that seem good to them. I mean, a lot of times murderers think that they're killing victims for their own well-being. So maybe it's not helpful to think in terms of good and evil. Instead, maybe we should ask.

In this situation and for this individual person, what is most just? And that is the case of Scott Callahan. Thank you guys so much for listening to this episode. Please follow Into the Dark over on all of our socials and we will see you next time with another episode. Goodbye.

Hey, I'm Ryan Reynolds. Recently, I asked Mint Mobile's legal team if big wireless companies are allowed to raise prices due to inflation. They said yes. And then when I asked if raising prices technically violates those onerous two-year contracts, they said, what the f*** are you talking about, you insane Hollywood a**hole?

So to recap, we're cutting the price of Mint Unlimited from $30 a month to just $15 a month. Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch. $45 upfront payment equivalent to $15 per month. New customers on first three-month plan only. Taxes and fees extra. Speeds lower above 40 gigabytes per details.