The son of a former President George W. Bush aide is the suspect in a grim Gaithersburg, Maryland hatchet slaying. Claude Alexander Allen III, 20, was arrested early Friday morning and charged with homicide in the gruesome slaying of 25-year-old Michael Phillip Harvey.
The Montgomery County Police Department released a brief statement that said that an unnamed adult male called in a report that he had killed a man who had tried to break into his house. Harvey’s body was found outside the home, slain by a hatchet.
Their preliminary investigation revealed that there probably wasn’t a break-in and that Allen and Harvey knew each other. At that point, they arrested Allen for the crime, although the investigation is still ongoing to figure out exactly what happened.
According to a local ABC7 report, the residence where the crime occurred is actually owned by the former Bush aide, Claude Allen, and his wife.
The former domestic policy adviser’s political career came to an end in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina , when he was caught and pled guilty to shoplifting from a Gaithersburg, MD Target. According to a Washington Post report, both Allen and his wife Jannese testified that long hours and lack of sleep after the killer hurricane had impaired his judgment.
“Stealing is not something that I ever thought that I would ever do, and I did,” Allen said in his 2006 trial, where he wept on the stand.
The judge ultimately sentenced him to fines and probation, angering Assistant State’s Attorney John D. Lalos, who claimed that Allen was believed to have shoplifted not once but many times.
But, even without jail time, Allen’s work in politics was over.
At this time, there are no details about the motive for the gruesome hatchet killing. It also isn’t clear when Claude Allen III, suspect and son of the tragic Bush aide, will appear next in court.
[Claude Allen III photo courtesy Montgomery County Police-Major Crimes Division]
[photo by mip studio via Shutterstock]