Joel Guy Jr. trial: Lisa Guy & Joel Guy Sr. killed by son at their Knoxville, Tennessee home after parents cutting him off financially. Parents dismembered amid attempts to chemically dissolve bodies to hide crime scene say prosecutors.
A trial has begun for a Knoxville, Tennessee man accused of murdering and dismembering his parents for cutting him off financially, then trying to chemically dissolve their bodies to cover up the crime.
Joel Michael Guy Jr., 32, who appeared on his first day of trial, stands accused of murdering his mother Lisa Guy, 55, and his father Joel Guy Sr., 61, some four years ago, the Knoxville News Sentinel reports.
Authorities claim that Guy Jr’s parents told him during the 2016 Thanksgiving holiday that they would be cutting him off financially, and would no longer be paying his bills, with prosecutors alleging the son conspiring to kill his parents as a result.
The alleged murders followed the son suddenly dropping out of college lawandcrime reports. Mother and father were about to cut him off from years of financial support because they were retiring and needed to save their money for themselves, Knox County prosecutor Leslie Nassios alleges.
The son denies the charges and has pleaded not guilty.
Handwritten plans to kill parents
During the commencement of Monday’s trial, prosecutors alleged a notebook belonged to Guy Jr. detailed the then 28 year old’s handwritten plans for stabbing his parents to death and inheriting their assets.
The defendant’s three sisters reportedly told authorities everything seemed okay when the family sat together for Thanksgiving in 2016. But just days after that final get-together, the Knox County Sheriff’s Office said Joel Guy Jr. murdered his parents in horrific fashion. Both victims were stabbed and dismembered, their remains placed in different rooms of the house, deputies said.
Responding police told of finding blood strewn on the walls of the family home.
Knox County Sheriff’s Office Det. Jeremy McCord described the scene in November 2016 as ‘the most horrific thing I’ve ever encountered in police work – in my life.’
Lisa Guy’s severed head was found submerged in a pot of boiling liquid on the kitchen stove, while the elder Joel Guy’s severed hands were discovered on the floor of his bedroom.
Both of the couple’s severed torsos were discovered stuffed into plastic containers inside a bathroom.
According to WATE, investigators believed that Joel Guy Jr. was attempting to dissolve his parents dismembered remains in order to cover up the killings.
Execution denied, defendant declines mental health defense
Investigators said that Guy Jr. who had been in living in Baton Rouge, Louisiana after reportedly withdrawing from Louisiana State University, returned home on the 27th after killing his parents. His parents were last seen alive on Friday the 25th, 2016.
Before the trial began, Joel Guy Jr. requested execution if he is convicted of murdering his parents and dismembering their bodies.
‘In the event that I am eventually found guilty of first-degree murder, I contend that the waiver above, if permitted by the court, would free the court to sentence me to death,’ the son wrote in a filing.
Of note, the prosecution has decided not to seek the death penalty in the case, while declining to elaborate why.
‘Ethical rules prohibit the District Attorney’s Office from commenting on pending cases,’ Sean McDermott, a spokesman for the Knox County District Attorney General, said previously in a statement.
According to WBIR, Joel Guy Jr.’s maneuver to force a death penalty trial failed after the judge ruled it was not an option. Of note, the son Guy is not offering a mental health defense.
Prosecutors said that Lisa Guy and Joel Guy Jr. were planning to move to a new home after celebrating Thanksgiving with family and they used the opportunity to tell Joel Guy Jr. they were cutting him off.
This led the son to allegedly murder his parents and dismember their bodies. According to prosecutors, Guy had also bought a number of chemicals to dissolve their corpses afterward but had failed to follow through — instead abruptly leaving for Louisiana prior to the discovery of the bodies.
The trial is set to continue this week after starting Monday morning.
