Son Was Killed by His Mother Because He Was Upset About Being Asked Over and Over to Help Her Get Her Lawn Mower Unstuck
In Arkansas, a 44-year-old woman will spend a few years in prison for killing her 27-year-old son by shooting him in the chest during a fight over a lawn mower that wouldn’t move. Judge Tim Weaver of the 16th Circuit Court told Tabatha Lynn Pebler last week that she would spend three years in state prison after she pleaded guilty to one count of manslaughter in the death of Brandon Chrisco. Court records seen by Law&Crime show this.
Pebler was also given an extra seven-year sentence that was put on hold. If she doesn’t follow the rules of her release, the court could send her back to jail for those years.
Based on the death of her son, Pebler was first charged with second-degree murder and using a firearm to commit a crime. In return for her guilty plea to manslaughter, the prosecutors agreed to drop the other charges against her.
A probable cause affidavit says that on the afternoon of May 31, 2023, officers from the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office went to a house in the 100 block of Stonewood Road after Pebler called 911 and said that she “had shot her son.”
There were deputies there. Pebler was bribed before she was interviewed. Pebler told the police that she was outside with her riding mower cutting the grass when it got stuck. Then she went to get her son Chrisco.
Pebler said her son was “angry” that he had to help her get the mower moving again. Not long after that, Pebler told the cops that she kept getting the mower stuck and asked her son to help. She said Chrisco called her a “b—-” and then “pushed her off the mower” this time.
The statement says, “(Pebler) said she went to the car about 250 yards away and took her gun out of the console in the car.” Pearler said she went the short way to get to her car while her son went the long way. Pebler said that her son was still after her, so she fired a few shots to scare him off. Pebler said she then shot her son as she walked toward him. “She didn’t mean to kill him,” Pebler said. “She just wanted to scare him and stop.”
The police said Crisco was shot in the upper left part of his chest, and the bullet went all the way through him. A lot of gun casings were found in the area.
Investigators said that the evidence they had at the scene showed that Pebler moved 18 feet toward Chrisco and fired a shot after getting her gun from the car. After walking another 52 feet toward her son, she shot him dead when he was less than 20 feet away.
Monday was the first day that Pebler had to start her prison term.
