A North Carolina jury has found Christopher McCullough guilty of first-degree murder for the brutal killing of his 75-year-old mother, Mary McCullough, during a violent outburst he blamed on drugs and extreme sleep deprivation.
The verdict, handed down Friday, brings McCullough a life sentence without the possibility of parole. The jury deliberated for around seven hours after receiving the case on Thursday. Though prosecutors also charged him with attempted murder of his father and larceny of a dog, McCullough was not convicted on those additional counts.
The attack occurred on August 8, 2023, after McCullough — reportedly high on Adderall and other substances — entered his parents’ home in violation of a domestic violence injunction. He claimed he hadn’t slept in six days and had stopped by to ask for gas money. When his parents refused, he launched into a violent assault on his father, John McCullough, while his 4-year-old son watched.
The defendant claimed he didn’t touch his frail mother, who used an oxygen tank and weighed just 100 pounds, but first responders testified that she was found unconscious in a pool of blood with visible bruises and head injuries. Officer Phillip Merle testified that she managed to gasp out, “My son,” when asked who attacked her. She died in the hospital nearly a week later.
In a deeply emotional moment, John McCullough testified against his own son, revealing a long and painful history of violence. “Since he was seven, he’s been uncontrollably violent,” he said, describing his son as having “superhuman-like strength.” The family had tried everything — boarding schools, mental health care — to no avail.
After the attack, Christopher fled with his son. Though the child was not physically injured, a therapist testified that he suffers from PTSD and has recalled horrifying details about the incident, including his father allegedly smothering his grandfather and bashing his grandmother’s head against the stairs.
Defense attorney Ricky Elmore argued that Christopher never intended to kill his mother, framing the altercation as a moment of “fight-or-flight” panic. “John came at him the wrong way,” Elmore said.
But prosecutors rejected any justification. “If that is a momma’s boy who left his mom for dead that way, God help that mom,” prosecutor Melanie Shekita told jurors.
The verdict closes a tragic chapter for a family that tried for decades to get help for a troubled son — only to lose a mother, nearly lose a father, and scar a child for life.