Man, 22, who drowned his alcoholic father, 57, in baptism-style exorcism three years ago at Massachusetts pond is found guilty of manslaughter

A Banker's son who drowned his alcoholic father in a baptism-style exorcism has been found guilty. 

Jack Callahan, now 22, was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter after being charged with murder in 2021, after an eight-day trial and 25 hours of deliberation. 

Callahan was on trial for the murder of his father Scott, 57, who was found by police floating in a pond outside Duxbury, around 30 miles outside of Boston, in June 2021.

He is facing up to 20 years in prison, as per Massachusetts law, and is scheduled to appear in court next on Friday, May 3. 

The then 19-year-old was bringing his father home from a Boston bar when his mother, Wendy, called to say she would not have her ex-husband in their $1.5 million home in Duxbury, and the young man asked their Uber driver to pull over next to the pond around midnight. 

Jack Callahan (pictured crying in 2021), now 22, was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter after being charged with murder in 2021, after an eight day trial and 25 hours of deliberation

Callahan was on trial for the murder of his father Scott, 57 (pictured), who was found by police floating in a pond outside Duxbury, around 30 miles outside of Boston, in June 2021

Police found Scott in Island Creek Pond at Crooker Memorial Park where Callahan is facing up to 20 years in prison, as per Massachusetts law and is scheduled to appear in court next on Friday, May 3

His father had been receiving treatment for alcoholism at a center in Hopkinton before he checked himself out and headed for the bar in Boston. 

Callahan told police at the time that his banker dad was possessed by a demon called 'Dirty Dan' who he thought could be destroyed through baptism.

He grabbed his father and repeatedly plunged his head under the water, telling cops: 'I left him there to decide, you can come to heaven with me or hell. I think he chose hell.'

Plymouth Assistant District Attorney Shanan Buckingham said at Callahan's 2021 arraignment: 'He indicated that the victim had been punching him in the face.

'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.

'He did so until his father was no longer struggling and floating.'

Jack Callahan, 22, has gone on trial for the murder of his father Scott during an 'exorcism.' Police said Callahan went to a bar in Boston Sunday night to pick up his father, Scott Callahan, 57, who was not supposed to be drinking

Jack Callahan, 22, is pictured on his father Scott's left alongside his mother Wendy and his two brothers Will and Charlie in 2016. The parents were divorced when Jack allegedly murdered his father in June 2021

Wendy Callahan with her children Jack, Will and Charlie a year before Scott's death

Wendy Callahan with sons Jack and Will at a birthday dinner in 2019 

The family lived in this $1.5 million five-bedroom house outside Duxbury 

His mother Wendy called police saying her son was having a mental health episode and that her ex-husband was missing.

'The mother indicated that the defendant had not exhibited this behavior before and that he had no history of mental illness,' Buckingham said.

Police then called an ambulance after finding Callahan 'worked up and distraught', hyperventilating and passing out. 

He told them his father hit him, and he did not know where he was: 'He's missing. I don't know what happened. I blacked out.'

Scott Callahan (pictured in an undated photo from his obituary page) was a heavy drinker. His son had gone to collect him from a bar on the night of the alleged killing 

Scott Callahan had been receiving treatment for alcoholism at a center in Hopkinton before he checked himself out and headed for a Boston bar on his last night 

Officers attempted CPR on the Colorado State University graduate before he was taken to Plymouth's Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital where he was pronounced dead

Scott Callahan in an undated photo. He was the Senior Vice President of Texas Capital Bank, and had an 'extensive career in finance'

He eventually directed the police to Crooker Memorial Park where officers found Scott in Island Creek Pond.

Officers attempted CPR on the Colorado State University graduate before he was taken to Plymouth's Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The teen was arrested the following day and cried in court as he pleaded not guilty at the first hearing in 2021.

Callahan's attorney Kevin Reddington asked the judge to send the teen to Bridgewater State Hospital for a mental health evaluation, warning that he was a danger to himself, but the judge denied it.

According to Buckingham, Callahan held his father in the pond on his back like a baby, and continually dunked his head in the water about four-to-eight times 

Plymouth Superior Court Judge William Sullivan heard the case

The public gallery was packed as the trial got underway on Friday

'He's a very nice young man,' Reddington said, 'He comes from a wonderful family.

'My client had a concern for his father, knowing that he would be drinking and knowing that he shouldn't be.

'He was going to try to take him back where he should be.'

His mother told the court that he had been living with a brother in Colorado and had to leave his job in the logging industry after injuring his back before returning to Duxbury to live with his mother.

According to Scott Callahan's obituary, he was the Senior Vice President of Texas Capital Bank, and had an 'extensive career in finance'.