An Arkansas man is facing serious charges after an incident that sounds like it came straight out of a crime thriller — except the alleged motive is somehow even more bizarre than fiction.
Joseph Alexander, 29, allegedly broke into his parents’ home, shot his mother multiple times with a crossbow, and demanded thousands of dollars. And when asked why?
He apparently claimed it was all because of comments made about his cat.
The shocking incident occurred around 6:45 am on March 24 in Rogers, Arkansas, when Mary Alexander, Joseph’s mother, heard the family cat meowing and got up to let it outside.
What happened next is truly disturbing.
According to the probable cause affidavit cited by FOX 24, Mary reported that she suddenly “felt like her eardrum had popped and saw blue.”
Benton County Sheriff’s Office
“When I did, I got popped two more times; it was an arrow sticking out of my head,” Mary — who incredibly survived the attack — later told police.
After hearing his wife scream, Mary’s husband Mike rushed to find their son standing over Mary with a crossbow. Things quickly escalated from horrifying to extortionate.
Joseph allegedly took his parents’ phones and forced his father to wire him $3,400 via CashApp and Bitcoin before demanding login information to their bank accounts. When Mike said he didn’t know the information, Joseph allegedly turned to his injured mother — still lying on the ground — for the code.
“You need to give me what is mine, or else I’m going to have to go to the next level,” Joseph allegedly threatened his father.
“I’m going to take things into my own hands, and Dad, you don’t want me to do that.”
In one of the most chilling moments, Mary later told investigators she heard her son tell her husband, “Don’t worry about it, Dad, she’s dead.” Talk about family drama taken to disturbing extremes.
While Mike allegedly attempted to calm his son down in the garage, Mary — very much alive despite her son’s statement — managed to reach her walker and escape to a neighbor’s home without being noticed. Quick thinking that likely saved her life.
The neighbor called police, and first responders found Mary with multiple arrows lodged in her face and head. Meanwhile, Joseph allegedly stole his father’s car, led police on a high-speed chase, crashed the vehicle, and was eventually tased before being taken into custody.
When paramedics arrived, Joseph allegedly admitted to shooting his mother, claiming he grabbed a “toy crossbow” and fired because she made an upsetting comment while he was petting the cat.
Later, when speaking with investigators, his explanation became even more bizarre. “I didn’t have a reason; I just lost my cool. I woke up, and I thought that she was, like, going after my cat for some reason,” he reportedly said. “I just, like, literally just stood up and lost my s–t because of my cat.”
When a detective directly asked, “You shot your mom in the head three times because of a cat?” Joseph’s alleged response was simply, “Ya, like that is the best process I understand of what happened.”
He allegedly provided disturbing details about the attack, saying, “It did not go in all the way, and she was just laying there screaming, so I pulled it back and did it again.”
Joseph has been charged with attempted capital murder, aggravated residential burglary, interference with first-degree emergency communications, and third-degree domestic battery.
He’s currently being held on $750,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court on June 9.