Inset: Joseph Alexander (Benton County Jail). Background: Home in Bentonville, Arkansas, where Alexander allegedly shot his mom with a crossbow (Google Maps).
An incident in Arkansas involves a man who allegedly forced entry into his parents’ home, shot his mother in the face with a bow and arrow following a dispute over a cat, and then coerced them into giving him money before making off with his father’s truck.
Joseph Alexander, 29, is now facing multiple serious charges, including attempted capital murder, residential burglary, and domestic battery. After allegedly taking his father’s vehicle, Alexander led law enforcement officers in Missouri on a pursuit, ending when he crashed and was subsequently apprehended.
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The Bentonville Police Department started investigating around 8 a.m. on March 24 when calls came in about a woman, later identified as Alexander’s mother, with “multiple arrows protruding from her face and head.” Paramedics rushed her to the hospital.
Detectives interviewed the mother from her hospital bed. She said she heard the cat meowing at her bedroom door around 6:45 a.m. on the day in question.
As she opened the door to let the cat out, she “felt like her ear drum had popped and saw blue,” the affidavit said. She laid down on the floor.
“When I did, I got popped two more times; it was an arrow sticking out of my head,” she reportedly told cops.
She screamed and her husband came out to see what happened. She allegedly heard her son tell her husband, “I won’t kill you because that will be a double homicide.” Alexander then demanded money, she said. She reportedly told police that she “played dead” as her son was yelling at her until her husband and her son went into the garage, per cops. After unsuccessfully searching for her phone, she grabbed her walker and went to her neighbor’s house for help.
Alexander’s father told cops he was about to take a shower when he heard his wife scream. He ran downstairs and saw his son standing over his wife holding a crossbow while she lay on the ground with arrows coming out of her head. The father fought with his son to get him away from his wife, and then tried to reason with him.
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The suspect allegedly said “Don’t worry about it, Dad, she’s dead.”
Alexander then demanded money and his dad sent him $2,000 via Cash App, the largest amount possible, the affidavit said. He allegedly demanded more money, and he sent himself another $1,400. The suspect wanted money from his parents’ bank account, but they couldn’t remember the passcode, cops wrote.
The dad gave his son his credit card and keys to his truck and they walked to the garage. Alexander bolted in his dad’s truck, the affidavit said.
According to the affidavit, the father recounted to cops how his son a few days before the incident came to their home and wanted money, saying something along the lines of “you need to give me what is mine, or else I’m going to have to go to the next level.” Concerned his son may act on the threat, the father made it a point to lock all doors and windows, but apparently forgot to lock the window leading to Alexander’s room — which is how the suspect entered the home, cops say.
Inside the residence there were obvious signs of a struggle, including a trail of blood through the living room. The father suffered multiple bruises and scratches during the fight with his son, cops said.
Deputies with the Stone County Sheriff’s Office, some 75 miles away, spotted the stolen truck and tried to pull it over but Alexander allegedly fled and later crashed. After Alexander was taken into custody, a paramedic reportedly asked him what happened. He allegedly claimed he was at his parents’ home petting his cat when his mom said something to it. He claimed he grabbed a “toy crossbow” and shot her, the affidavit said.
“It did not go in all the way, and she was just laying there screaming, so I pulled it back and did it again,” he allegedly said.
After receiving his Miranda warnings, Alexander allegedly told Bentonville detectives he walked from his home to his parents’ home and entered through his former bedroom window early on that morning, claiming he did so because he did not want to wake them. Detectives pressed him on why he shot her.
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“I didn’t have a reason,” he allegedly explained. “I just lost my cool. I woke up, and I thought that she was like going after my cat for some reason. I just like literally just stood up and lost my shit because of my cat.”
Investigators were incredulous.
“You shot your mom in the head three times because of a cat?,” a detective asked.
“Ya, like that is the best process I understand of what happened,” Alexander responded, per cops.
According to police, Alexander has been arrested three times since 2014 including for assault, fleeing and aggravated assault on law enforcement.
He remains at the Benton County Jail.
