Alabama Teenager Accused of Stabbing Mother to Death Over Disciplining, Wounds Father

The attack reportedly resulted from an argument about disciplining the teen.

Published: 7/8/2026, 10:50:51 PM EDT

Alabama Teenager Accused of Stabbing Mother to Death Over Disciplining, Wounds Father — A hunting knife is held by an employee at a film and television prop company in London, England, on December 13, 2004. (Ian Waldie/Getty Images)

A mother and father were stabbed by their teenage son in Alabama on July 5.

Deputies with the Baldwin County Sheriff's Office responded to calls at a home in the city of Daphne, Alabama, on Sunday. They found 46-year-old Army Reserve Battalion commander Lance Baker wounded, and his wife Samantha stabbed to death by their teenage son. The attack reportedly resulted from an argument about disciplining the teen.

According to a Monday press release from the Baldwin County Sheriff's Office, deputies responded to 911 calls of an assault in the Belforest neighborhood in Daphne just before 9:00 p.m. on July 5. Upon arriving at the scene, deputies discovered a man and a woman with apparent stab wounds. The deputies rendered aid until emergency medical personnel arrived. The woman was pronounced deceased from her injuries; the man was airlifted to a nearby hospital, where he was still being treated for his wounds as of July 6.

A young man was also detained at the scene. He is charged with one count of murder and one count of attempted murder. Authorities withheld the name of the juvenile suspect, but local news outlet Fox 10 TV identified the victims as 46-year-old Lance Baker and his wife, 37-year-old Samantha Baker, and the suspect as their 17-year-old son.

Lance Baker's LinkedIn page describes him as the Battalion Commander of the 1184th Deployment and Distribution Support Battalion in Mobile. He enlisted in the National Guard in 1997 and did 5 years before deploying to Iraq as an officer. He then spent 18 years as an army reservist, beginning in 2008.

Fox 10 reported that the assault was preceded by an argument about disciplinary actions. The suspect locked himself inside the home and called 911. A neighbor reported hearing the father crying for help while walking through the neighborhood.

The Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division and Crime Scene personnel processed the crime scene and evidence. The press release described the incident as "an isolated domestic matter," with no threat to the general public.

In June, a 25-year-old man was arrested in connection with the fatal shooting of four people, including his parents, his brother, and his brother's girlfriend, at a home in southeastern Michigan.

Officers responded just after 5:00 p.m. to reports of shots fired at the residence, located on the 19000 block of Rensellor Road in Livonia, just outside Detroit, police shared in a press release.

Officials said the suspect—who has not yet been identified—emerged from the home when officers arrived and told them he had shot his family members. He was subsequently taken into custody without incident.

After entering the residence, officers found a man and woman—later identified as the suspect's brother, Tanner Pierce, 22, and the brother's girlfriend, Nevaeh Finch, 21—inside a bedroom with gunshot wounds. The suspect's parents, Sterling Pierce, 58, and Holly Kimball, 53, were found in the backyard with similar injuries. All four victims were pronounced dead at the scene.