A Tennessee man accused of killing his 76-year-old mother because she was “driving him crazy” was arrested Sunday at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport while trying to flee the country, authorities said.
John Christopher Ralph, 51, of Elizabethon, faces a first-degree murder charge after allegedly shooting Edith Betty Ralph multiple times last week in her home, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said in a news release.
On Friday, a caregiver found the woman’s body in the 170 block of Reynolds Road, the TBI said. The Clayton County Sheriff’s Office said she suffered severe trauma to her head and several gunshot wounds to her body.
The night before his mother’s death, Ralph is accused of asking coworkers to take pictures of him at work so he’d have an alibi, the sheriff’s office said.
Ralph, who lived with his mother, was trying to fly to Amsterdam before he was arrested by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Marshals Service at the airport.
He remains in the Clayton County jail on a $1 million bond while awaiting extradition to Tennessee, the TBI said.
The Carter County (Tenn.) Sheriff’s Office assisted in the investigation.
In other news:
About the Author
