A 33-year-old woman has been arrested for allegedly killing her elderly father after he refused to switch off the lights in her house which they shared.
Corey Burke, from Seattle, Washington in the United States, allegedly used an ice axe to struck and stab her father, 67-year-old Timothy Burke.
Burke, who works as training manager at a rockets and spacecraft company, owned by American billionaire Jeff Bezos, confessed to killing her father after he refused to turn off the lights, reported the Daily Mail.
The publication reported that Burke told police that 'she knew that she could not convince her father to keep the lights off', so she went upstairs and retrieved the murder weapon.
“She then tripped her father and strangled him before attacking him with the ice axe. Burke then bit him and hit him several times in the head and side with the blunt and sharp ends of the ice axe,” the publication said in its report.
His body was found in the basement and police also recovered a bloody silver-and-blue ice climbing pick at the crime scene.
The British publication said Burke was initially taken to a hospital for a mental health evaluation and the day after the murder she reportedly whispered to one police officer, 'I killed him.'
It was further added that she had a strained relationship with her father and said she had been overwhelmed during elections.
The online publication said police documents indicated that Burke allegedly described how she killed her father, saying '’it was really hard, really fu****g hard'’ and at some point she felt she wasn’t going to be able to do it.
It was also added that neighbours told police that the father and daughter lived in the home together and the elderly man was mostly home-bound because of health issues.
Burke is said to have purchased the axe in 2023.
Her bail has been set up to $2million (over R35 million) and she is due in back court on November 21, 2024.
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