Man sentenced to decades in prison for killing mother after argument over video games

Click here for updates on this story

    MANCHESTER, New Hampshire (WMUR) — A Goffstown man is heading to prison for 40 years to life for killing his mother last year.

Thomas Humphrey was living in his mother’s basement at the time of the killing. She had just given him a PlayStation for his 47th birthday, and the two were arguing about how loud he was playing video games before she was stabbed 22 times and almost decapitated.

“This is, as I said in my more than a decade on the bench, one of the most brutal murders that I’ve presided over,” said Judge William Delker.

Delker spoke before sentencing Humphrey to 40 years to life in prison for the murder of his mother, Linda Tufts.

Humphrey stabbed his mother 22 times, almost decapitating her, and then lit her body on fire. Relatives told the court how Tufts’ killing affected them.

“You tore our family apart,” said Kimberly, a family member. “The grief, the anger, the pain – that just continues on. You took one of our matriarchs of the family. It was completely unforgivable.”

When police arrived at the house, they discovered the fire and located Humphrey at the bottom of the basement stairs with self-inflicted wounds, holding a knife.

Humphrey was charged with second-degree murder and arson. He pleaded guilty to both charges.

“The brutality of this crime simply makes it too dangerous not to impose a very lengthy state prison sentence,” Delker said.

Humphrey was sentenced to five to 10 years in prison on the arson charge, to be served consecutively to the murder sentence.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.