The son of a Walker County, Ga., man found slain Tuesday morning has been charged with murder in the slaying, according to Sheriff Steve Wilson.
Eric Thomas Jackson was charged about 8 p.m. Tuesday with killing his father, 62-year-old Clarence Jackson.
The sheriff was on the phone with the Chattanooga Times Free Press about 5:40 p.m. Tuesday when he received a radio call announcing that Eric Jackson, 30, was in custody.
“All the evidence, I believe I can safely say, tends to the lead to the son being the person responsible for this crime,” Wilson said.
Eric Jackson is an independent contractor who delivers papers for the Times Free Press.
Clarence Jackson was found dead in the backyard at 1038 Lee School Road in LaFayette, Ga., by his wife early Tuesday, Wilson said. Eric Jackson lived in the house with his father and mother.
“It looks like he has sustained trauma to various parts of his body, along with some type of puncture wounds,” Wilson said. “There doesn’t appear to be a gun involved.”
The body was taken to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Crime Lab on Tuesday, where a cause of death will be determined, Wilson said.
Wilson said tension had been building between Eric Jackson and his parents over the past two weeks.
“We’re not sure if those tensions are what escalated to the altercations,” he said. “At this point, that’s the only theory we have.”
Though Clarence Jackson’s body was in the backyard, there is also evidence of a struggle inside the house, Wilson said.
Eric Jackson was arrested after the sheriff’s department released descriptions to the media, Wilson said.