A 17-year-old boy is accused of killing his mother and violently attacking his father following a dispute reportedly sparked by Facebook posts she had made about him, according to a neighbor.
Brandon Baker, 17, has been accused of fatally stabbing his mother, 37-year-old Samantha Baker, and injuring his father, Lance Baker, 46, inside the family’s home in Daphne, Alabama, on Sunday night.
A neighbor said Brandon and his mother were heard arguing loudly that evening over posts on her Facebook page, where she had frequently written about what she described as his teenage “attitude,” according to the New York Post.
Among those posts was a birthday message for Brandon in September, in which Samantha wrote: “You are an amazing person and yet at the same time you make my blood boil.”
In January, she also shared a meme that appeared to reference concerns about her son’s behavior. It read: “Gentle parenting is for gentle children. My thugs will be handled accordingly.”
“Raising a teenage boy… 0/10 DO. NOT. RECOMMEND!” she wrote in another post, adding crying emojis.
Next-door neighbor Shawn Scurry told the Post that, before Samantha’s death, he heard Brandon shouting “about a comment” on her page, while “she was saying it was just a story.” On Facebook, a story is a temporary post that typically disappears after 24 hours.
Scurry described the argument as loud enough to be heard across the neighborhood and said he believed Samantha’s social media complaints about her son may have been “starting to hurt him.”
‘She does talk kind of rude about the kids [sic],’ he conceded. ‘And, you know, they are teenagers.’
Brandon Baker, 17, allegedly fatally stabbed his mother and savagely attacked his father after they argued over her mean Facebook posts about him
Samantha Baker, 37, was stabbed to death and her husband Lance Baker, 46, was severely wounded outside their home in Daphne, Alabama, on Sunday
A neighbor revealed that hours before the alleged murders, Brandon was heard arguing with his mother about her Facebook posts
A review of Samantha’s Facebook posts shows many smiling family pictures, including photos of her and Lance supporting their sons at high school football games and at church.
But some posts hint at troubles within the family, with one reading: ‘Welcome to the Baker house…we laugh then holler then act like nothing happened until it’s time to holler and laugh again. It’s a s*** show over here. Enter at your own risk.’
In a post marking ‘National Son’s Day’ last year, she wrote that Brandon was a ‘sweet guy’, but said she didn’t like his ‘mouth and attitude.’
‘He’s a calm presence until he isn’t. He marches to the beat of his own drum,’ she wrote.
She also shared a meme last May that read: ‘Only parents with gentle children can gentle parent. The rest of us have to square up, and fight for our lives with the tiny bullies we made. And I do square up! I don’t have gentle kids! They are feral.’
Brandon’s 16-year-old brother was not home at the time of the killings, when police said Brandon charged at his parents with a kitchen knife.
Samantha was found with multiple stab wounds and later died in hospital, while Lance – US Army Reserve Battalion Commander with the 1184th Deployment and Distribution Support Battalion in Mobile – suffered severe injuries.
Samantha’s Facebook posts included memes indicating her troubles with her teenage sons
Samantha’s Facebook posts also show many smiling family pictures, including photos of herself and Lance supporting their sons at high school football games and at church
The 37-year-old was pronounced dead outside the family’s $314,000 residence in Daphne
It is unclear which Facebook ‘story’ Samantha posted that allegedly set off her son on the night she died, but Scurry said the mother tried to put her son in his place.
‘She got the final say and that was for him to go do his chore, which is to mow the lawn,’ the neighbor said.
Scurry said Brandon complied and went ahead with mowing the lawn, and said despite his alleged attack after, it ‘didn’t seem like it was a problem for him to do it that day.’
The neighbor said she moved in a year ago and the argument was the first she had heard.
Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office Captain Justin Correa said that after the apparent complaint about Samantha’s Facebook posts, the parents got into a separate argument with their son over a disciplinary issue at home.
Correa said Brandon then grabbed a kitchen knife and chased his parents out of the house, stabbing them both repeatedly.
A Nest camera outside the home reportedly picked up audio of the attack, and Scurry said when she heard the audio she recognized ‘a scream from the mom.’
‘Then the dad is arguing with the [son] – and when I say arguing, I mean like, ‘Why are you doing this?’’ she recalled.
‘He’s basically saying, ‘I don’t want to die. Please stop. No.’ And then he’s repeating, ‘Somebody help me, please, help me’ very loudly.’
Brandon was a star high school football player
Police said Brandon’s 16-year-old brother was not home when the alleged attack unfolded
Samantha was in the Army National Guard and Reserve for six years, and her husband served as US Army Reserve Battalion Commander with the 1184th Deployment and Distribution Support Battalion
Scurry said Lance tried to alert his neighbors by going door-to-door, leaving bloodied handprints on their front doors while his son chased him, according to the neighbor.
Brandon eventually returned to his home and called 911, and police said he described the incident as a domestic matter.
He was taken into custody and is now facing murder charges, and he is being held in jail on a $1 million bond and will be tried as an adult.
Lance was airlifted to hospital, with Correa saying Wednesday he is recovering in stable condition.
Samantha, who served in the Army National Guard and Reserve for six years, was working as a realtor at the time of her death.
Lance has served in the US Army Reserve for more than 26 years.
