19-year-old accused of murdering his father claims he was performing a baptism to exorcise demons

Plymouth, Massachusetts: 19-year-old Jack Callahan appeared in Plymouth District Court on Tuesday where he entered a plea of not guilty to the charge of murder. He stands accused of murdering his 57-year-old father, Scott Callahan though cause and manner of death are still pending from the medical examiner.

According to the prosecutors Callahan went into Boston to retrieve his father from a bar where he had been drinking on Sunday.  While taking an Uber back towards where they lived, Callahan placed a phone call to his mother and was overheard being told that he couldn't bring his father home.

Callahan then reportedly requested that the driver let them off at Island Creek Pond in Crocker Park.  They were dropped off between midnight and 12:30 am.

It is not clear whether it was while they were still in the vehicle or once they were dropped off, but Callahan alleges that his father struck him and that their fight continued to the pond.

In the pond, Callahan reportedly told investigators that he was holding his father "in the pond on his back like a baby," and that "he continually dunked his father's head in the water about four-to-eight times" but that he would stop and raise his father's head if he began to cough or choke. Once his father would begin to fight back again though, Callahan would reportedly once more begin to submerge his father's head, "until his father was no longer struggling and floating."

A statement released by the Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz indicated that Callahan claimed he was ""baptizing" his father because he saw the "demon" in his eyes."

In particular Callahan stated he was attempting to exorcise a demonic spirit he called "Dirty Dan."

After he stopped fighting back, Callahan stated that he made a statement to his father saying, "I left him there to decide, you can come to heaven with me or hell. I think he chose hell."

Callahan's public defender though, has already made a request for a mental health evaluation for his client.

According to the initial call to police, Callahan's mother reported that her son had showed up to the house just before 2 am "acting erratically," that he was having a mental health episode and that Scott Callahan was missing.

She indicated, according to Boston.com that her son had not acted in this manner before and had no history of mental illness.

Callahan reportedly initially told officers that "He's missing," referring to his father. "I don't know what happened, I blacked out." He reportedly said that he remembered his father hitting him, but then blacked out and "when I came to I was walking into the house soaked."

While retelling events to officers, Callahan reportedly began to hyperventilate to the point that he passed out several times. Officers transported him to the hospital for medical attention.

Investigators found the body of Scott Callahan underwater in the bond and transported him to Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Plymouth. He was pronounced dead at 3:30 am.

Callahan is due back in court on August 12.