A 19-year-old Florida man is behind held without bond after he allegedly beat his father to death in an argument over a plate of food.
Police were called to the Melbourne home on January 19 for a man breathing “but not responding.”
Julien Welch-Beddoe told police he had been fighting with his 45-year-old father, Francis Welch, who “became unstable,” prompting the 911 call, Law&Crime reported.
“Welch-Beddoe stated he was making a plate of food, when (his father) got up from the couch and told him that he didn’t deserve to have it because he wasn’t working,” an affidavit reads, according to WKMG. “Julien Welch-Beddoe stated he made himself a plate anyway, and as he was walking away toward his bedroom, (his father) pushed him.”
The two got into a physical fight until Welch’s fiancee intervened. Not long after, however, Welch-Beddoe said he heard the fiancee call out, “This isn’t a joke!”
He went back to the living room and found his unresponsive father.
Welch was taken to a hospital but died a few hours later. An autopsy revealed that he had three broken ribs, one of which cut his spleen, causing internal bleeding that led to his death.
The affidavit said that Welch had an exceptionally high blood alcohol content, which could have interfered with his ability to defend himself during the fight.
After his father’s death, Welch-Beddoe stopped cooperating with police.
Welch-Beddoe was arrested on a charge of manslaughter Wednesday night.
