COCHISE COUNTY, Ariz. — Deputies said a man stopped them in the middle of the night in the middle of the road to tell them that he had murdered someone.
In a news release, the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office said that Jay Albert Stevens stopped the deputy at approximately 1 a.m. Thursday and said that he had shot and killed someone. Stevens told the deputy that he did not know the address where it happened, but led the deputy to a residence where a 61-year-old man was found dead.
Stevens allegedly told detectives that the victim was his stepfather, and that he wanted to bury the body but was “too lazy,” My Herald/Review Media reported. Stevens allegedly told investigators he also considered chaining the victim’s body to his truck to “drag him out into the desert,” but decided against it.
“I was gonna bury him, but I’m too lazy to dig a hole that big,” Stevens allegedly told investigators, My Herald/Review Media reported.
The victim’s identity was not released, KOLD reported.
When deputies questioned Stevens, he allegedly said that his stepfather was an alcoholic and that “this has been building in me for a long time,” according to My Herald/Review Media. Stevens told investigators that the final straw was his stepfather accusing him of not reading the Bible.
“It took me a while to get the gumption to go out there with a gun,” Stevens told detectives, according to My Herald/Review Media.
Stevens was charged with first-degree murder and is being held in the Cochise County Jail without bond, according to online records.
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