Fresno man charged with killing parents alleges they tried to poison him
A 23-year-old Fresno man who is charged with fatally shooting his parents at their north Fresno home in April will be put on trial for murder, a judge ruled Tuesday.
Fresno County Judge Brian Alvarez found there was enough evidence to proceed with the murder case against Julian McElhaney.
McElhaney is accused of shooting his parents, 64-year-old Sylvia McElhaney and 55-year-old William McElhaney, multiple times after an argument.
William McElhaney’s body was found on the front lawn of their home on 10th Street near Bullard Avenue. Sylvia’s body was located in one of the home’s bathrooms. Scattered throughout the home were spent ammunition rounds.
Clad in a red jumpsuit, McElhaney sat nearly motionless during the two-day preliminary hearing. His defense attorneys, Angelica Rivera and Tina Wong, have raised the possibility that McElhaney may be suffering from mental illness.
During a two-hour, video-recorded interview with detectives Miguel Alvarez and Scott Gray, McElhaney alleges he killed his parents because he was tired of their abuse. He recorded videos of his parents where he hurled accusations at them, including forcing him to work, sexual abuse by his father, drug use and trying to poison him with arsenic.
“I was frustrated about how things were going about how they brought me up, it was a build up of stuff over time,” McElhaney said during the interview with detectives. “I couldn’t take it anymore, nobody understood me.”
Rivera said the videos show the parents trying to ignore McElhaney’s accusations. At one point, Rivera said, William McElhaney said on the video that he didn’t even know what arsenic was.
McElhaney said the day of the shooting, he laid all of his firearms out on his bed, including a .22 caliber pistol, a shotgun and an AR-15 style rifle. He also had two fully loaded cartridges.
He told detectives he did not plan to kill his parents that day, it just happened.
After the detectives left the interview room, the video camera was still on and recorded McElhaney talking to himself and having regrets.
“I am free from you, I won’t be controlled by you or your family anymore,” he said. “You people are monsters, I regret doing it but I don’t feel bad.”
He also complained that his parents made him do chores around the house, including cleaning up after a family pet.
“My life is over,” he said. “If only I could have joined the Marine Corps., if only they would have accepted me, I wouldn’t be here.”
McElhaney mentions talking with a psychologist and needing help.
Rivera asked Detective Gray if police thought about contacting his psychologist or having him evaluated by a mental health professional.
Gray replied that they did not.
