A Carmel man on trial for fatally stabbing his father after confining and beating his mother took the stand April 13 to describe why he did it – after he described his previous roles as a CIA agent and president of the United States.
Christopher Claerbout, 42, is on trial for murder, criminal confinement, domestic battery, intimidation and auto theft in Hamilton County Superior Court 2. His defense team is arguing that he is not guilty by reason of insanity, claiming that his mental state had been deteriorating to the point he couldn’t tell right from wrong in the weeks leading up to the incident in the 3500 block of Rolling Springs Dr. in Carmel on Feb. 21, 2022.
Called to the witness stand by his defense attorneys, Claerbout said his resentment toward his parents had been building for not taking his claims of childhood molestation seriously, and that the morning of the incident he heard a message on a Facebook channel he regularly watched to start “getting some work done,” and he felt it was directed at him.
So, Claerbout said he drove to his parents’ house to arrest his mother as a war criminal and begin the process of taking her to Guantanamo Bay. He acknowledged that he shoved his mother down the stairs before handcuffing her and binding her with an extension cord. He admitted using force as he interrogated her, but he denied beating her with brass knuckles, which she claimed happened during her time on the witness stand two days earlier.
“I hit her once, and I kicked her once, and I stepped on her foot once,” Claerbout said. “There really was no need to do it more. She was beat up enough.”
Nine hours after he confined his mother, Claerbout’s father arrived home from work. Claerbout said his father told him to go outside, and he followed him into the driveway, where the elder Claerbout attempted to get into his vehicle. Claerbout said he grabbed his father by the arm, which was followed by shoving. Claerbout said he dodged a punch from his father before landing one of his own, and as the fight escalated, he grabbed his knife and began using it.
“It’s kind of a blur to me, most of it,” Claerbout said. “I do remember doing it, but not really perfectly well.”
Claerbout said he never planned to kill his father.
“There was a heat of passion after all these years,” he said. “I let my anger out all at once I guess.”
Before describing the events of Feb. 21, 2022, Claerbout answered questions from defense attorney Mario Massillamany about his previous roles. Claerbout said he previously worked as a CIA agent who was tasked with locating and recovering four missing atomic bombs. He said he completed the mission, finding one that looked like a speaker in Los Angeles, finding two that looked like inflatable mattresses in Chicago and Indianapolis, and finding the last one in an appliance that looked like a clock radio on the East Coast. He said he also killed several “crooked FBI agents.”
Claerbout also said that at the time of the incident, he believed that he was Donald Trump and that his parents were Bill and Hillary Clinton. Since going on medication to treat his mental illness a year ago, he has stopped believing he and his parents have these identities, he said.
When responding to questions submitted by the jury, Claerbout said that he believed he was justified in killing his father at the time of the incident.
“I wish it didn’t happen,” he said.
