Missouri son accused of bludgeoning mother to death after weeks of ‘violently’ demanding his inheritance

[Special thanks to David S. Luber (Florida Probate Attorney) for bringing this article to my attention.]

An entitled Missouri son is accused of bludgeoning his mother to death with a gardening tool after weeks of “violently” demanding and threatening her to hand over his inheritance.

Christian County deputies were called to the Ozark home of Carolyn Alling, 65, around 9:30 p.m. Thursday after her husband requested a well-being check because she had not returned his phone calls throughout the day, Sheriff Brad Cole told KBTX.

Cole said his deputies suspected something was amiss due to how Derrick Alling was acting during their questioning, and his answers didn’t add up. “They just had a gut feeling that something wasn’t quite right, and they acted upon that,” the sheriff said. “Unfortunately, the gut feeling they had, they found to be true.”

When officers asked Alling if his mother was okay, he stayed quiet. When they followed up with whether he knew if she was alive, he told them “he didn’t think so.” Deputies then searched the property.

Alling told the deputies his mother was in the guest house, where they found Carolyn Alling’s bloodied and beaten body, KBTX reported. She had been bludgeoned repeatedly in the head and face with a gardening or scraping tool in an attack so brutal that it caused multiple skull fractures, authorities said.

Derrick Alling was arrested and charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action. He was booked into the Christian County Jail and is being held without bond. Prosecutors described Alling’s alleged actions as “violent and gruesome.”

According to court records obtained by the Kansas City Star, Alling’s stepfather — who called in the well-being check — said Derrick had threatened his mother several times in the weeks before her death, demanding early access to his inheritance. “The victim had been recording the defendant acting aggressively and violently towards her within weeks of her murder,” authorities noted.

The stepfather also told police that he and Carolyn had to “keep their marriage secret for fear of the defendant acting violently toward them if he found out.”

Carolyn Alling, a licensed dental hygienist, was a Missouri native who had lived in California with Derrick, her late husband, and their daughter before moving back to Ozark. According to her obituary, she was remembered for her love of animals, spending time near water, homemaking, art, and the outdoors.

Derrick Alling has pleaded not guilty to his mother’s murder. He is scheduled to appear in court again on October 14.

For more information see Richard Pollina “Missouri son accused of bludgeoning mother to death after weeks of ‘violently’ demanding his inheritance,” The New York Post, October 1, 2025.