Goffstown Police Department
"You tore our family apart," said one family member, while the judge called the crime "one of the most brutal murders" he's ever seen.
A New Hampshire man convicted of murdering his mother in grisly fashion after an alleged fight over the volume of his PlayStation was sentenced to serious time behind bars this week.
Thomas Humphrey, 47, was sentenced to 40 years to life in prison for the second-degree murder of Linda Tufts, his 70-year-old mother. He was also given a consecutive suspended sentence of 5-10 years for arson, after pleading guilty to both charges on Tuesday.
The gruesome murder took place on December 4, 2023, while Humphrey -- who was living in his mother's basement -- was playing with a PlayStation he received from his mother for his 47th birthday.
When she allegedly complained about the volume of the game, prosecutors say he stabbed his mother 22 times and nearly decapitated her. Following the brutal stabbing, he then allegedly lit his mother's body on fire in the home -- while he was still inside.
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View StoryAccording to NBC Boston, the fire was still raging when police responded to the scene. Authorities said Humphrey was found at the bottom of the basement stairs, holding a knife with self-inflicted wounds.
"This is, as I said in my more than a decade on the bench, one of the most brutal murders that I've presided over," said Judge William Delker said in court, according to WMUR. "The brutality of this crime simply makes it too dangerous not to impose a very lengthy state prison sentence," he added.
A family member at the sentencing hearing also told him, "You tore our family apart. The grief, the anger, the pain – that just continues on. You took one of our matriarchs of the family. It was completely unforgivable."
Marion County Jail
