A man who bizarrely told police his missing mum had been ‘abducted by aliens’ was jailed for ten years after her charred body was found burned in their garden
A man who bizarrely told cops his missing mum had been “abducted by aliens” has been locked up after her torched remains were found in the back garden. Jason Christopher Campbell, 35, tried to mask the death of 65-year-old Marie Campbell by burning her body at the home they shared in Homer, Georgia, US – around 75 miles northeast of Atlanta.
Marie vanished without a trace on January 6, leaving behind her handbag, car, identification and mobile phone.
The eerie disappearance sparked a frantic local search as worried neighbours and relatives desperately scoured the area, according to local news outlet Now Georgia.
Two days later, Campbell spun a story to investigators, claiming a mysterious stranger had picked his mum up from the property and that he hadn’t heard a peep from her since.
However, officers quickly uncovered that just 24 hours prior, Campbell had rung 911 to make the bizarre claim that she had been “abducted by aliens”.
The out-of-this-world claim triggered an immediate search of the family’s land, where police stumbled upon a chilling scene.
Detectives discovered Marie’s charred remains in the backyard close to a smouldering fire and a burnt-out mattress.
They also found a vehicle on site where a seat had either been folded down or removed entirely, covered by a mud-stained sheet.
An autopsy confirmed the remains belonged to Marie, and Campbell was formally charged the following month.
Authorities have not revealed how Marie died, and Campbell was never accused of causing her death.
Under local laws, hiding a body is treated as a felony if it prevents investigators from discovering whether foul play was involved.
Following a five-day trial brought by Banks County prosecutors, Campbell was convicted of concealing a death, with Judge Albert Collier throwing the book at him by handing down the maximum ten-year prison stretch, Now Georgia reports.