A Chicago man murdered and mutilated his 61-year-old father before allegedly posting several selfies on Facebook, prosecutors say.
Police found Carl Edmondson’s body at the bottom of the basement stairs of his West Pullman home on Saturday. His skull had been crushed – with brain matter splattered on the floor and walls – and his penis has been cut off.
His son Carlton, 26, has been charged with his murder.
According to prosecutors, the elder Edmondson sought an order of protection against his son twice this year – once in August and again in October. On Nov. 20, Carlton Edmondson was served with a court order barring him from coming near his father.
Police went to the elder Edmondson’s house over the weekend after Carlton Edmondson’s uncle reported that he had seen his nephew inside the house and knew that he was not supposed to be there, the Chicago Sun Times reported.
When police arrived, the younger Edmondson answered the door and when asked about his father’s whereabouts, he said the older man was “at the hospital,” Assistant State’s Attorney Julia Ramirez said during a bond hearing on Tuesday.
Carl Edmondson’s body was found beside a Bowie knife, a circular saw and a “concrete capstone,” Ramirez added.
The Cook County Medical Examiner’s office determined that Carl Edmondson died of multiple injuries from assault.
Investigators also found a black jacket that appeared to be the one the younger Edmondson was wearing when he posted to Facebook on Saturday.
In the photos, Carlton Edmondson holds a cigarette and grins at the camera, with what looks like blood spatter against the white logos on the jacket, the Sun Times reported.
During Tuesday’s bond hearing, Carlton Edmondson appeared to mutter and rant throughout, prompting Judge Stephanie Miller to order him out of the courtroom before she ruled that he be held without bond.
“Not guilty!” Carlton Edmondson yelled, according to the Sun Times. “It wasn’t me. It wasn’t his jacket.”
While Ramirez was describing the charges against Carlton Edmondson – including a single count of first-degree murder and pending charges for violating the order of protection – he yelled, smiling: “The order of protection is gone. He is no longer living.”
According to court records, Carlton Edmondson was arrested five days before his father’s body was discovered for throwing a brick through the window of his father’s house. He was released on a recognized bond from the police station.
Additionally, he had been arrested six times since September on a variety of misdemeanor charges, including refusing to give his name to police officers who saw him drinking on a streetcorner; stealing a pair of $16 sunglasses from a South Side Target and snatching a 70-year-old woman’s cellphone as she bought lottery tickets at a convenience store.