Autopsy: Hatchet-wielding teen hit Fayetteville grandfather more than 30 times
A grandfather attacked with a hatchet by his teenage grandson last August had more than 30 wounds, according to an autopsy released Tuesday.
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Three generations of the Naulty family shared a home on Elgin Drive in the Village at Rockfish when Joseph Ezekiel Naulty reported hearing a scream from his father’s bedroom on Aug. 8, 2016.
According to the autopsy report, Joseph Naulty assumed his father, Joseph Emmet Naulty, 63, was having a heart attack due to a history of hypertension and coronary artery disease but, when he entered the room, found his son covered in blood with a hatchet nearby.
Joseph Emmet Naulty was found in bed with 15 chop wounds to the head and neck and 16 wounds to the arms and hands, the autopsy report said.
According to the autopsy, at least three of the hatchet wounds to Joseph Emmet Naulty’s head caused fractures to his face and skull that extended into the frontal lobes of his brain.
The name of the grandson accused in the attack was not released because he was 15 years old at the time, but Cumberland County District Attorney Billy West previously said he would like to see the teen stand trial as an adult in connection with the crime.
Authorities have not released a motive in the attack.
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