Duxbury teenager indicted on murder charge in father’s death described as baptism

Jack Callahan,19, is facing a murder charge stemming from the death of his father, whose body was pulled from Island Creek Pond in Crooker Memorial Park Duxbury in June. Next to him on right is his attorney Kevin Reddington during a court appearance on June 29. David L. Ryan/Globe Staff

A Duxbury teenager was indicted Friday by a Plymouth grand jury in the murder of his father, whom he allegedly dunked into water repeatedly while performing what the teen described to authorities as a baptism and exorcism, Plymouth District Attorney Tim Cruz’s office said.

Jack Callahan, 19, was indicted on one count of murder in the June 28 death of his father, Scott Callahan, 57, the district attorney’s office said in a statement.

Callahan’s mother called Duxbury police around 2 a.m. that morning and said her son was acting erratically and that his father was missing in the area of Island Creek Pond at Crocker Park, the statement said. Police said Callahan was found distraught and hyperventilating when officers responded to the Sampson Street home.

Meanwhile, police and firefighters responded to the pond where they found Scott Callahan submerged in the water. Scott Callahan was taken to Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Plymouth, where he was pronounced dead. The office of the chief medical examiner reported that Scott Callahan had water-logged lungs and an abrasion on his head, but the cause of his death remains pending.

Friday’s indictment alleges that Jack Callahan had traveled to Boston to find his father and return him home. During his arraignment in June, prosecutors said Callahan and a friend had tracked his father to a bar, where they found Scott Callahan inebriated. The father and son then took an Uber from Boston to Crooker Memorial Park in Duxbury.

It was at the park where a “physical altercation took place” between the father and son, the district attorney’s office said.

“Jack Callahan allegedly began submerging his father under the water several times claiming he was ‘baptizing’ his father because he saw the ‘demon’ in his eyes,” the statement said.

Jack Callahan said he was exorcising a demon within his father named “Dirty Dan” and had given his father a choice while they were in the pond — to go to heaven with him or to hell, prosecutors said during Callahan’s arraignment.

Jack Callahan has been held without bail since his arraignment in June, where he pleaded not guilty to murder.

Thursday’s indictment moves the case to Plymouth Superior Court. He will be arraigned at a later date, the statement said.

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