Jacob Lee Carney, a 21-year-old Tennessee resident, has admitted to the brutal murder of his grandmother, Mary Carney, who was found with 114 stab and incision wounds. The incident occurred in May 2020 when Carney, masked and lurking in his grandmother’s kitchen, attacked her fiance, James Wilyard. Mary Carney intervened, leading to her grandson stabbing her over 100 times. The motive behind the gruesome act remains undisclosed.
Deputy District Attorney Michael Pugh stated that Carney never provided a reason for his actions. At the time of the incident, Carney was 17 years old and was in the process of being adopted by his maternal grandmother. However, the adoption process was tragically halted due to the incident.
On the night of the murder, Wilyard, who was recovering from heart surgery, was in the living room when he heard a noise from the kitchen. With the lights off and no music coming from Carney’s room, Wilyard assumed that Mary and Jacob were asleep. Upon investigating, he discovered Carney dressed in black, wearing a mask and gloves, and holding a large kitchen knife.
A struggle ensued over the knife, during which Carney stabbed Wilyard in the back. Mary Carney woke up and rushed to the scene, but slipped on blood and fell. She managed to grab Jacob’s wrist and instructed Wilyard to call 911. Wilyard locked himself in a bedroom and made the emergency call while Carney attempted to break down the door.
When the police arrived, they found Mary Carney dead and Wilyard suffering from multiple stab wounds to his back, legs, arms, neck, and head. Carney was found in his bedroom, covered in blood. He later pleaded guilty to the charges, accepting concurrent sentences of life with the possibility of parole for the murder and 15 years for attempted murder.