Man sentenced for killing mom in argument over video games

CONCORD, N.H. — A judge on Tuesday sentenced a man to 40 years to life in prison after he pleaded guilty to killing his mother in the home they shared last year, prosecutors in New Hampshire announced Tuesday.

Police found Linda Tufts, 70, dead inside a burning home in Goffstown on the afternoon of Nov. 28, 2023. Officers also found her son, Thomas Humphrey, injured from what appeared to be self-inflicted wounds, authorities said. The pair shared the house together, with Humphrey living in his mother’s basement, WMUR-TV reported.

A medical examiner later determined that Tufts died of multiple stab wounds, and authorities arrested Humphrey on second-degree murder and arson charges.

Just before her death, Tufts gave Humphrey a PlayStation to celebrate his 47th birthday, WMUR reported. Later, the two of them got into an argument about how loudly he was playing video games and he stabbed her 22 times, according to the news station. After the attack, which nearly left her decapitated, Humphrey lit Tufts’ body on fire, WMUR reported.

“The brutality of this crime simply makes it too dangerous not to impose a very lengthy state prison sentence,” Judge William Delker said in court Tuesday, according to The Associated Press.

Humphrey pleaded guilty to charges Tuesday and was sentenced to 40 years to life on the second-degree murder charge, according to the New Hampshire Department of Justice. He was also given a consecutive suspended sentence of 5 to 10 years for arson.

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