In a tragic turn of events stemming from a domestic dispute, 20-year-old Joel Scott Graves, a male, was killed in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. The incident, which unfolded on August 16, 2018, at the Breckenridge Apartments, led to the arrest of his own father. When Hattiesburg police officers arrived at the scene, they found Joel 'Chad' Graves, then 45, outside the apartment with blood on his hands and head.
Inside, his son, Joel Scott Graves, was found deceased on the floor from a shotgun wound to the throat.
Initially, Chad Graves claimed that the shotgun had discharged accidentally while he and his son were struggling over it during a fight. However, the investigation by the Hattiesburg Police Department began to uncover inconsistencies in his account. Evidence at the scene, including the location of shotgun pellets in the baseboard and the pooling of blood beneath Scott Graves' body, suggested that he was lying on the floor when he was shot. This contradicted the father's claim of a struggle over the weapon. Further testimony revealed that there was a history of domestic violence, with Scott's mother providing police reports of past abuse by Chad Graves.
Two weeks after his son's death, Joel Chad Graves was arrested and charged with second-degree murder. The legal proceedings that followed saw the charge eventually reduced to manslaughter. In March 2022, Chad Graves pleaded guilty to manslaughter for causing his son's death. He was sentenced to the maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and was also ordered to pay a $10,000 fine. During the sentencing, a statement from Scott Graves' mother was shared, expressing the deep pain of her loss and her hope for eventual forgiveness.
