BEDFORD — A Silverville man accused of murdering his father has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge.
Kameron Lee McMaken, 22, changed his plea to guilty to aggravated battery, a Level 3 felony, in Lawrence County Superior Court II on Thursday afternoon. Judge Robert Cline took the plea under advisement, and sentencing is scheduled for October 2, 2025, at 1:00 p.m. McMaken remains held without bond.
The case stems from a 911 call made on Friday, April 11, 2025, from a residence on State Road 158 in Williams. The caller, Kameron McMaken, told the dispatcher that he had been in a fight with his father, Chad McMaken, 47, and had shot him in the head. When the dispatcher asked him to check on his father, Kameron reportedly stated, “He’s gone. I shot him in the explicit face.”
Responding deputies found Kameron at the scene and placed him in handcuffs. According to the affidavit, Kameron told Deputy Christian James he believed his father was harming a cat inside the home.
McMaken described a verbal argument that escalated into a physical altercation when he tried to stop his father from entering a room where animals were kept. He claimed he “instinctually grabbed the gun,” a loaded firearm that had been on the kitchen table, because he was “unsure of how the interaction with his father was going to end” and intended to “show his father the gun to get him to calm down.” He stated that a struggle ensued, and he “panicked and shot him.”
A protective sweep of the home by Captain Lonnie Johnson located Chad McMaken’s body on the kitchen floor. A search warrant executed by Indiana State Police Crime Scene Technicians found a firearm matching Kameron’s description next to the body. The Lawrence County Coroner and a forensic examiner both determined the initial cause of death was a non-contact gunshot wound to the head.
During a subsequent interview, Kameron told detectives that his father and brother had been drinking alcohol after returning from work. He recalled his parents having a loud argument, after which he retrieved a loaded 20-gauge single-shot shotgun from under his bed and placed it in the kitchen. The final confrontation, Kameron stated, occurred in the living room after his father returned inside and told him to leave the house. Kameron claimed that when his father moved toward his bedroom, where the animals were, a shoving match began. It was then that Kameron stated he picked up the shotgun, pointed it at his father, and, during a struggle over the firearm, pulled the trigger, fatally shooting him in the face.
Kameron McMaken was arrested at the scene and booked into the Lawrence County Jail.
