An argument inside an Indiana home turned deadly last week, when a 23-year-old man shot his father and stepfather to death as his mother watched on in horror.
Easton Goode is charged with four counts total (two counts of murder and two counts of criminal recklessness by shooting a firearm into an inhabited dwelling) for killing his stepdad, Bradley Butler, and his father, Kelly Goode.
Goode is being held without bond, and plea information was not provided in online records.
Bradley, 53, and Kelly, 55, were found dead by police who were called on Thursday, March 5, just before 6 a.m. to a home in Greenville.
A female caller — Goode’s mother — told dispatchers her son, Easton, lives with her and her husband.
Goode’s mother went to check on him that morning and allegedly found him “laying on the floor in his room,” vomiting, according to court documents provided to Us Weekly. She yelled to Bradley for help, and the two lifted Easton onto his bed and left him.
Within moments, an irritated Easton “came down the stairs and began to become aggressive verbally” toward his mother and stepfather, according to the arrest affidavit. Bradley and Easton started grappling but eventually, Goode’s mother said they “hugged and apologized” to one another.
Easton returned to his room but came trudging down the stairs soon after to go into a bathroom. While inside for several minutes, Goode’s mom knocked at the door to see if he was alright. The door opened, and Easton was standing there “naked from the waist down” and “covered in his own feces,” the affidavit states.
She asked him what happened, and Easton “became enraged and another physical fight ensued” between the son and stepfather, according to investigators. Bradley placed Easton in a “bear hug” and brought him into the master bedroom where he held him until he calmed down and “stopped fighting.”
The couple left him in their room and hoped he would fall asleep. Meanwhile, Easton’s mom called his father and her ex-husband, Goode, and asked him to “come to their residence to assist with Easton.” She said she wanted her ex to “take him back to his house to sober up.”
Kelly arrived with a friend and roommate to help him take the “drunk and out of control” son out of the home. When Easton saw them, he started yelling, court filings allege.
The mother and stepfather were sitting on the couch when Easton “came out of their bedroom and was standing in the entrance of the hallway holding his hand to his side,” reads the arrest affidavit.
He yelled at the four of them to “shut up” and added that he didn’t want to hear what they had to say.
When Kelly and his roommate approached Easton, the mother said she noticed her son “had a gun in his hand,” according to the affidavit. Easton shot Kelly and the father “fell immediately to the floor.” The roommate, Easton’s stepfather, and his mother were all standing nearby.
Easton allegedly pointed the gun at Bradley and shot him. He fell from the couch onto the floor, and the mother and father’s roommate ran out of the home to get help.
Police arrived and “officers gave loud verbal commands for [Easton] to exit the residence with no response,” it is alleged in the affidavit. “At 6:35 am, Officers observed Goode running through the house naked.” Not even 10 minutes later, officers decided to bust down “the rear door of the house and deployed a flash-bang device.”
Soon after, Easton was handcuffed and the horrific ordeal was over.
Easton allegedly admitted to shooting the two men.
Easton is scheduled to appear in court for a pretrial conference on April 16. He has a jury trial scheduled for July 20.
