Metro Voice News Celebrating Faith, Family & Community
Biblical disagreements occasionally can apparently turn deadly. An Arizona man was arrested last week for allegedly killing his stepfather during a heated discussion about the Bible.
Sheriff deputies charged Jay Albert Stevens, 52, with first-degree murder and booked him into the Cochise County Jail. Stevens told investigators he shot his stepfather in the chest twice with a .40 caliber handgun because the victim accused him of never reading the Bible, among other reasons.
“I was gonna bury him, but I’m too lazy to dig a hole that big,” Stevens told authorities. Instead, authorities discovered the dead man’s body between the house and garage.
According to the investigator’s report observed by local media, Stevens moved to Arizona approximately four years ago to care for his ailing mother. He claimed no one in the family liked his stepfather, adding he was an alcoholic who “brainwashed” Steven’s mother into becoming one, too. “This has been building in me for a long time,” he said.
Before killing his stepfather, Stevens told investigators that the two had spent most of the day drinking beer until they began discussing the Bible in the garage. The situation escalated when his stepfather said he did not understand the book because he didn’t read it enough. Stevens then went into his bedroom and “stewed” over the argument for several hours until he built up the “gumption” to grab a gun and confront his stepfather in the living room.
The report said Stevens walked up to the man, pointed the gun “right up to his face,” and told him to “(expletive) off.” Stevens fired the first round into his stepfather’s chest. When he realized his stepfather was still alive, he fired another round in his chest and then began to repeatedly punch the victim in the face out of “anger and rage.”
He flagged deputies down in the road and admitted to his actions.
Stevens is being held at the county jail on a $1 million bond.
–Alan Goforth | Metro Voice
