Trial begins for Duxbury man who allegedly drowned his father as part of exorcism

A jury trial has begun for a Duxbury man who is accused of drowning his father in a pond during a baptism-style “exorcism” in 2021.

Jack Callahan, 22, has been charged with murder for allegedly killing his father, Scott Callahan, who was 57 at the time, during the late-night incident at Island Creek Pond pond on June 28, 2021. 

The younger Callahan, who was 19 at the time, told police he thought his father was possessed by a demon called “Dirty Dan” and that he could release the spirit by repeatedly dunking his father’s head underwater, according to officials. Callahan has pleaded not guilty to the charge.

The Patriot Ledger reported that prosecutors called witnesses Thursday, including Callahan’s sister, Martha DeMarco. Judge William Sullivan said the trial at Plymouth County Superior Court in Brockton is expected to take up to a week-and-a-half, according to the report. 

On the night of Scott Callahan’s death, the younger Callahan told investigators he had suspected his father, who struggled with alcoholism, had been drinking at a Boston bar, so he picked him up in an Uber to try and help him. 

Callahan told police he asked the driver to drop them at the pond so he could smoke a cigarette, but while there, an altercation broke out. 

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

Callahan showed up at his mother’s Duxbury home around 2 a.m. in wet clothing, and she called police, telling them that her son was having a mental health episode and her ex-husband, Scott Callahan, was missing, according to officials.

Police arrived and found the teen to be “worked up and distraught,” and on a few occasions, he hyperventilated and passed out, prompting officers to call an ambulance. Callahan told investigators he didn’t know what happened but that his father had been hitting him, and he “blacked out,” according to officials. 

Police learned that the pair had been dropped off at the pound around midnight. Authorities searched the pond and found Scott Callahan underwater with his suitcases floating nearby. He was pronounced dead at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Plymouth at 3:30 a.m.