CITRUS COUNTY, FLORIDA: Florida was left shocked when schoolteacher Denise Hallowell was brutally murdered in July 2019. The killer turned out to be her adopted minor son.
The investigation uncovered several shocking truths, revealing the seemingly simple and peaceful life of the Hallowells was anything but in reality.
NBC's 'Dateline' will be doing a rerun of its Season 30 episode 'Horror at the Lake', which unpacked the details of the Citrus County murder case. It will be aired on the channel on Friday, August 18, 2023 at 9 pm ET.
Why did Carlos Hallowell kill his mother Denise Hallowell?
Carlos was an adopted child from Guatemala, brought in by Denise at the very young age of four. He was followed by another adopted son from Honduras.
A bright student, Carlos had done well in both studies and extracurriculars at school. While the two were living quite the perfect life for years, things changed eventually.
Carlos was hounded by some bad company that got him into substance abuse, from alcohol to drugs like marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy, acid, methamphetamine, and prescription pills. He was not even a teenager at the time.
Meanwhile, his younger brother Angel had left the family after accusing Denise of abuse, which was proven to be false. Carlos had defended her at this point.
Things got worse when Carlos' habits seriously affected his life at school and he ended up getting expelled for it in 2019.
This was when the relationship between Denise and Carlos further deteriorated. The mother's stricter treatment caused fights between the two and one such fight led to Carlos attacking her using his ax on July 13, 2019.
It was later revealed that Carlos wanted to take control of his mother's property, including her car and real estate.
Where is Carlos Hallowell now?
It took long for Carlos to confess even after physical evidence went completely against his innocence. He was convicted of first-degree premeditated murder in 2021, by a jury who took the evidence at face value.
Carlos was only 17 when he killed Denise, which meant he couldn't be sentenced to death. Therefore, he received life imprisonment with potential parole after 25 years.
It is unknown where Carlos is serving time for the murder due to a lack of available records.
