Hi. Uh, my name is Paula Thompson. Are you still there? [Music] Police. Lot of blood right here on this door. Yeah. March 13th, 2020, De Moine, Iowa. 50-year-old Paula Thompson called the local police line to help her out with an issue she was having with her son. De Mo police. Hi. Uh, my name is Paula Thompson and my son actually is on probation and he's trying to get in the house and he has um 219 Pleasant View Drive. Okay. What's your son's name? Christopher Thompson. And he's like, I hear you calling the police, Mom. Please don't. And he's yelling. Okay. Does he have any weapons? Uh, not that I know of. Okay. Can you describe him to Is he white, black, Hispanic, Asian? White. How old is he? Uh, 32. Do you know what color of coat or jacket he's wearing? Gray. Like really dark gray. The officers rushed to the scene, but by the time they got there, Chris was nowhere to be found. Police. Hello. [Music] Hi, thank you for coming. You're welcome. Yeah, my son, he's on probation and he decided to leave and go get some alcohol and come back. No. Hi. I'm sorry. I didn't realize. I didn't hear the knock loud enough. That's all right. So, I put a little note right here. And when he came back, he was mad. He was like knocking on the door. Mom, let me in. You didn't really call the police. Yeah, I did. And then he took off in his car. You can see the oil spots from his Yeah. All right. Does he stay here with you? Occasionally. He doesn't really have anywhere to live. So, what's occasionally? Well, little Jinxy might get out. Oh, no. No. You can't go. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. She's like, I don't know what to think. Yeah. What's occasionally? No. No. Well, okay. He lived with my dad. and he lived with me and he lived with my dad and he lived with me. He is on probation. What's his probation address? You know, I don't know. Okay. I don't know what's here or my dad. I guess be careful if you're letting him back here and staying here because at some point he could probably declare residency here if you allow him to stay here long enough and he's got enough stuff here. So therefore, you can call us. But if he says, "Yeah, I got all my clothes inside. I've been sitting here for the last week." It's hard for us to tell him he can't come back here because it' be his residence at that point. Okay. So, but if you have problems with his drinking, I'd contact his probation officer cuz I doubt he can drink on probation. So, and they would be the ones to violate his probation. We can't do anything about that. So, all right. When he's like violent towards me, what do I do? Call the police. Call the police. Put your phone on record while we're in route so that way uh everything's recorded as far as what he does and says. But if he's that violent and he's a on probation, an alcoholic or has alcohol problems, I suggest you just don't let him back in and stay here with you anymore until he can get clean. It' be a tough lesson to learn. But there's the note right there. Yep. I get it. So, bless your hearts. All right. Good night. Yep. You as well. Take care, dear. I hope things work out well for you tonight. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Little did they know the next time he's violent against her, she wouldn't have the time to call for help. Paula and Christopher didn't have the best relationship. They both had a drinking problem and were constantly getting into arguments. For their neighbors, hearing screaming coming out of their house was just an average day. No one ever thought anything of it. I called and left a message with dispatch. Oh, did you? I'm Rebecca Barlay. Okay. Cuz I obviously live right here. So, you know the neighbor, you know your neighbors pretty well over here or I heard that already that they fought a lot or drank a lot. I don't know that's true or um they fought a lot. She was an alcoholic and I don't know if she currently was dry or not. Okay. She went on and off so often I couldn't keep track. Yeah. Were you two you her and you and her close or close enough that every time something happened she came running to my door help and she lived with her son, right? Yes. Okay. What's his name again? Christopher. Christopher. Yeah. Now, he's a twin. I don't know if you've contacted the brother. I'm not sure who and who you've not contacted. I'm assume they would have contacted her father and probably her brother or her son. She's an only child. She's lived there for close to 25 years. So I guess and I've lived here 32. So it's like yeah, I know her. We're not intimate that we talk daily by any means. Sorry. Yep. Okay. But yes, I know her. I know of the problems. I was here the day that there was the problem that she got him arrested and he went to jail. Oh, okay. For arson. Christopher was struggling to support himself, so he was either living at his mother Paula's house or his grandfather's. But Paula constantly pushed him to get his life in order. She'd even told a neighbor that she cut up his credit cards and told him to go find a job, but he just couldn't. She was working to support both of them at that point, but no one could have predicted what would happen next. March 18th, 2020. Paula's friend, Lorie Baker, hadn't seen or heard from Paula in almost a week. Neither did her employer. This was completely out of character for her. Work was always a priority. So, Lorie did the only thing she could think of. Call the house. Christopher was the one to pick up, and what he said left her shocked enough for her to call 911 right away. 911? Um, yes. I'm getting a welfare check. Okay. Hey, what's the situation? What's going on? Well, um, she has not, um, responded for several days and her and she hasn't checked in with her boss. So, I called her son and he has now said that he like harmed her and she's dead. And are you a coworker? I'm her friend. Okay. And her I'm her emergency contact. So, her boss called me. Okay. And your name? Lori Baker. L O R I E Baker. Okay. And did he say when this happened? Like when did you speak with him? Today or today? Just a little bit ago. And he said, "I can't keep lying to you." He's been telling me that she's just been drinking. I don't really know what to think. Okay. And you said she hasn't shown up for work either? She has not. Okay. Does the son live there or work? Yes. Uhhuh. Okay. Did he say what he did? Like a crowbar. Okay. Well, yeah. He just said Has he been known to have any kind of mental issues or anything? Yes. Okay. How old is Christopher? If you don't know, just guess. He's 30 something. Okay. maybe 35. And is he white, black, Asian, Hispanic? He's white. Okay. Does he have the same last name, Baker, or is his last name different? No, no, no. Thompson. It's Paula Thompson. Oh, you're Baker. I'm sorry. I read my notes wrong. Yeah. I'm sorry. My last name is I got it right now. That's okay. Um, yes. and he has a record and like he has had some anger management issues before but well obviously never to this degree but so I I don't know I mean I couldn't tell if he was like I don't know why he would say that if he didn't do that. Okay. How old is Paula? I should have asked you that earlier. Sorry. She is um just about 50 or right around that. Okay, I got the trip in. We're going to get some officers headed over there. Within the next few minutes, the officers were back at Paulo's home, hoping that what Lorie heard was just a misunderstanding and that Paulo would be safe and sound. But the door was a jar, so they had to investigate. Police. Hello police. 226 DP 226. Hello de Mo please. Coming. [Music] Please. I don't see him yet though. We have a person down. Yeah, it's dark. 245 Adam. Hold traffic. We have a person down inside the house. We're looking for any other subject now. They found her. They found Paula, just not in the way they were hoping. A lot of blood right here on this door. And it wasn't an average crime scene. You get your light. You see a little better. Go ahead. Watch this door. Yeah. Yeah. No. Looks like she's been drugged. Yeah. Check the rest of the house. What about Hey, let's check this door. We check this one. Check that one. [Music] Clear over here. [Music] How do you get to that? Hey, could you get to this little area from under the stairs? Yeah, never mind. I see you. I just I I was looking for like where the water heater is and stuff. Yeah. You good? Yeah, it's it's clear down here. Is there a garage? Yeah, but it's not. 245. Adam, if you want to notify supervisor, um, I didn't have 504 come out here. There's a crowbar here on the table. The same crowbar used to end Paula's life. If that wasn't bad enough on its own, the officers also found Paula's cat killed the same way she was with the same weapon in the home's garbage can. This visit just went from being a welfare check to an active homicide investigation. And they needed to find the only suspect they had at this point. Chris, is there a garage? Uh, detectives. Yeah, it's also need to run. I assume that's the females. Yeah. Yes. All right. It's It's locked. Okay. You cleared the car, right? Well, it's double. We're going to peek inside the car again real quick. Adam 45 [Music] Adamics come in or do you want them to go back to service? Uh they can come in. It's uh an obvious but Hey man, we're down here at 219 Southwest Pleasant View. Uh I want to do another sweep of the upstairs. Uh I just obviously deceased female, the person who called it in was a friend of the female said that her son basically said he couldn't take it anymore. Nice. [Music] I just want to do one more sweep of the upstairs. I'm pretty confident on the downstairs. A whole lot. Yeah. I mean, I just peaked around there, too. I just want to make sure we check everywhere. We don't think we looked in there cuz that bag was right in front of the door. Hey, we're going to uh have Dick that phone uh for the son. See if maybe we can get a location. Okay. Yeah. Um anyway, yeah, like I said, I'm pretty confident he's not not here. But we're going to do one more sweep. I'll hang out out here. That way there's one person walking through. Do you want to hold on until detectives get down here? Sure. Yeah. Cuz they'll need toect towels down. Yeah. Yeah. It's on the kitchen table. Yeah. Oh, nothing under there. Yeah. I mean, she's got settling. She's been down for a while. So, she's got some budgeoning and the blood's coagulated and dry. So, we just need to come in or not even I don't even think they It's pretty obvious. Well, well, they're here. And uh yeah, there's some when we first peaked that are we Thank you. There's some bottles and stuff over here. probably been doing a lot of drinking. Dispatch, they were running this on see if uh they could You see the crowbar over there on the table? That 45. I know just as much about the sun as you do. I'll I'll attach the car. Cup is going to uh run the plate. Uh we're going to start there from the car. The autopsy would later confirm that Paula had been dead for at least 5 days at this point. Considering Lorie spoke to Chris at the house that morning, it meant that he'd lived in the house with his mother's body for almost a week before fleeing the scene. That too only when he found out the police were on their way. The blood splatter showed that Paula didn't go down easy. She fought for her life but wasn't strong enough. With the clock ticking, the cops needed to find Chris fast before he hurt someone else. The only other person in their family that lived nearby was Paul's father, William Thompson. So that's where the officers went next. Hi. Hello. Is Chris here? No. Does he Does he live here currently or? No, he doesn't. Okay. Have you talked to all recently? I have not. Okay. Well, I just want to talk to him. When's the last time you heard from him? Probably a couple months ago. Couple months ago. You can come in if you want. Okay. Yeah. If you don't mind, just look around for him. He is He is detectives are looking for him right now. Who's looking for him? Our detectives are looking. Okay. So, he hasn't lived here for a couple months or longer than that. Six months. Okay. Yeah, we're Okay. Well, if you don't mind, we're just going to look around quick. Go ahead. Wife back there. Okay. [Music] 321. [Music] Okay. [Music] 3223 Urbandale 4029 [Music] Urb there. They would let us in if he was here. All right, sir. If you if you hear from him, I know you haven't heard so much, but if if you happen to hear from him, can you call us immediately, please? All right. Sorry for bothering you guys. Hope you guys have a good day. No problem. You guys are just doing your job. I hope he's not in too bad trouble, but we don't know either. I We just got a phone from detective say, "Hey, we need to talk to him and he he might be considered dangerous." So that's why we came here with our guns on just cuz I don't know him. Uh and they told us he might be dangerous. So for whatever they're looking for him for, I'm not really sure. Okay. But if you do if you do see him or hear from him, just just contact 911 immediately, please. Okay. All right. All right. Thank you. A few minutes later, the officers were given the okay to let him know there's been a homicide just in case Chris comes for him next. Hello. Sorry about to get some information from you. Oh, no problem. For I believe as you use the dad and you have the right to know it's a safety issue. I was his grandfather. Grandfather. Okay. Okay. He um we have reason to believe he was involved in a homicide um this morning. So that that so I couldn't tell you before but now now the press release is out. So that's why we're here looking for him is they want to talk to him in relation to a homicide. Chris is Chris has always been a little bit wild. So I've distanced myself. Okay. He stayed here for a while after he got out of jail because he needed a place to stay. Y but then finally I told him, you know, it's inconvenient for me. You need to move. Okay. Yeah, if he shows up, I I would advise you not don't open the door and just and call us right away. Okay. Um, you know, if he is kind of has history being unstable and possibly involved with the homicide, I don't think it wouldn't be safe for you to No. Uh, obviously if something's going on with his head, he's not in the right state of mind that something bad could happen. So, okay. Well, I think we should be good now. We'll stop bothering for the day, sir. No, not a problem. You're not a bother. All right. Have a good day. They were walking away, leaving out the most crucial piece of information. Okay. I thought that ghost emotion, huh? I thought I didn't I didn't tell them. Oh, you didn't? No. That's what I'm asking. Should I tell them? Like I know they got to do notifications. So that's his daughter. Paul is the So this is grandpa 22. Paul is Paula is the mom. She's a check with George I guess. Going through the ambulance. Yeah. So that's right there. Huh? That's right. Paul, no. Paul is so Chris is this guy's grandkid. Okay. Copy confirmed in your case number 8237 taken with a white 2004 enclosed trailer with an Iowa plate of Charles Paul 8130 taken from Jackson. You told him that he's wanted. I told him that. We have reason to believe he might have been involved in the homicide this morning. With Paula's name already out there on the press release, they had to go back and let him know that his daughter was the victim of the homicide. I hate doing these. So, just so you know, I just talked to our family conflict um detectives and Paula was the victim of the homicide and I I saw a blur. I was afraid of that. And um so Detective Mitchell, who is one of our family conflict detectives, he's getting a victim services advocate and they're on their way out here now. Okay. But they asked since I I was already here and talked to you that I'd be willing to notify you. Sure. I appreciate that. So I want to give you a couple of phone numbers also. Absolutely. Um William had no reaction to finding out Chris had killed Paula. Almost like he knew it was going to happen. In a way, Paula did, too. Not only had she already contacted the cops and emailed Chris's probation officer, telling her she was scared of Chris the day she died, but she'd even made a Facebook video about it a few months prior. In it, she said that if she died under mysterious circumstances or was killed, Chris would be responsible, only to delete the video a few minutes later. With his history and how brutally Paula was killed, Chris couldn't stay out there for very long. His family was notified and with the press release putting his name and face out there, it was only a matter of time before the police caught up to him, but he didn't wait for that to happen. Later that day, Chris walked into the police station and approached the front desk, asking if there's a warrant out on his name. When they asked why there would be one, his response was chilling. Because I killed my mother. He was immediately detained and taken in for further questioning. Even though it seems like we had all the information possible at this point, Chris would go on to reveal things that would only prove how dark and twisted his mind really was. Chris was charged with firstdegree murder, but his defense was that it wasn't premeditated. It just happened. But Chris's own words were about to betray that defense. He admitted to having issues with Paula and that they would always escalate when she drank, which was the opposite of what Paula said in her final email before her death. But on the day she died, Chris said the argument got really out of control. And before he knew it, he had the crowbar in his hand and just couldn't stop hitting her with it. The detectives wanted to know why things even got to this point. And his response was chilling. Because she wouldn't let me close the bedroom door. Chris hit Paula seven times before she stopped moving, but it wasn't until he saw all the blood. Instead of trying to do something to help her, he just went to the kitchen to wash the crowbar he killed his own mother with. That's when he dragged another innocent into the fight. Paula's cat. A de mo man sentenced to life in prison Friday for murdering his mother will be sentenced on animal cruelty charges tomorrow. 33-year-old Christopher Thompson pleaded guilty to beating the cat to death with a crowbar. He went after the cat simply because he was still angry at Paula, even after mercilessly killing her and proceeded to do the exact same thing to the cat before throwing it in the garbage can outside. The only time he left the house after that was to buy more alcohol. When he figured the police was zeroing in on him, he had no option but to run and eventually surrender. His lawyers tried to play it off like he hadn't planned to kill her, like he didn't actually have a motive. They even tried to go the mental instability route, but nothing could undo Chris's own statements. All of which proved the jury came to the right conclusion. Chris was found guilty of first-degree murder and animal abuse. On December 18th, 2020, Thompson was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He is currently serving a sentence in an Iowa state prison.