Inset: Timothy Lisby appears in a booking photo (Marion County Jail); Main image: the house where the defendant allegedly killed his son during an argument about dirty dishes in June 2024 (Google Maps)
An Indiana man is behind bars after he allegedly killed his own son during an argument about dirty dishes in the sink, police say.
Timothy Ray Lisby, 59, currently stands accused of one initial count of aggravated battery, according to Marion County Jail records.
A witness to the alleged filicide, however, said he believes he saw a murder unfold that fateful day, according to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department. The final, formal charges in the case will be decided on by the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office.
The incident occurred on the afternoon of June 14, at a residence on Dogie Road — in a community of mobile homes flanked by Little Eagle Creek to the west and the Hawthorne neighborhood to the east.
Officers responded to the scene in response to a report about a person being stabbed and found Christopher Allen Lisby, 31, suffering from injuries sustained in the violence on the living room floor with a “bleeding wound to the chest,” according to an affidavit filed in the case. The victim — suffering from a laceration to his heart — was rushed by Indianapolis Emergency Medical Services to a nearby hospital in critical condition. The younger Lisby stabilized after surgery but succumbed to his injuries the next day, police said.
Since the filing of the battery charge, the case has been turned over to homicide detectives. The investigation is said to be ongoing.
The man who spoke to police as a witness also recently spoke with Indianapolis-based Fox affiliate WXIN to offer details about what happened after the father and son began arguing about the dirty dishes. At some point, the pair wrestled each other to the floor.
Jeremiah Green said the elder Lisby at another point, started attacking his son with the handle of a spoon.
“Tim had a spoon in his hand and started stabbing Chris with it,” the witness told the TV station. “Chris said, ‘Jeremiah get the spoon out of his hand,’ so I did.”
Then, Timothy Lisby allegedly secured a second weapon.
“Tim ran in the kitchen and grabbed something shiny, something sharp … and thrusted it into Chris’s chest as hard as he could,” Green added.
The deceased man’s friend made the 911 call that day. According to both Green and the affidavit, the father quickly realized what was happening and tried, in vain, to save his son’s life — allegedly putting pressure on the wound and begging him to live.
“He was putting pressure on Chris and saying, ‘Don’t die. Don’t die’,” Green told WXIN. “Since that day I’ve been crying and I can’t sleep.”
Now, the grieving friend is intent on making sure the father goes to prison — vowing to testify against him in court — and saying he will do whatever is necessary to “put him down,” he told the TV station.
Timothy Lisby is currently being detained without bond. His next court appearance is slated for June 21.
“Chris was my friend. I loved him to death,” Green said. “I’ve never seen anyone bleed that bad and that really hurt me. When he stabbed Chris in the heart, it’s like he stabbed mine.”
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