Three brothers 'killed their mother on Christmas Day because they didn't want to play a game of Yahtzee'

By Daily Mail Reporter
Updated:


Murdered: Tamara Lee Mason, 49, was allegedly strangled by her three sons on Christmas Day

Murdered: Tamara Lee Mason, 49, was allegedly strangled by her three sons on Christmas Day

Three brothers allegedly killed their own mother on Christmas Day - because they didn't want to play a game of Yahtzee.

Tamara Lee Mason's decomposing body was found buried in her back yard at her home in Alberta, Minnesota, six months after she disappeared.

Her three sons allegedly confessed to police that the youngest had strangled the 49-year-old, then the elder two hid her body in a shed for months until the ground was thawed enough to bury it.

The youngest, 17-year-old Jacob Cobb, has now been charged with two counts of second-degree murder after he allegedly strangled Ms Mason on the living room floor when the three brothers refused to play the dice game.

His brother, Andrew, 18, and his half-brother, 25-year-old Dylan C. Clemens, have been charged with accessory after the fact to murder.

Andrew is accused of putting a plastic bag over her head and tightening a belt round her neck, while the eldest allegedly disposed of the body.

The horrific murder allegedly happened on December 25 last year, after the family returned home from Christmas dinner at a friend's house.

Ms Mason was reported missing on December 27, and the brothers told investigators she had stormed out of the house with her belongings after becoming angry when they refused to play a game of Yahtzee on Christmas Day.

Jacob Cobb
Dylan Clemens

Charged: Jacob Cobb, 17, left, allegedly strangled his mother because he didn't want to play Yahtzee. His brother Dylan Clemens, right, allegedly hid the body

But on May 21, a friend of Clemens told a deputy the 25-year-old had mentioned having a physical fight with his mother, before asking him the best way to dispose of a body.

The friend allegedly told Clemens the body should be put in a hog pen so  the animals could eat it, and then he should dump the head in a pond.

On the same day an informant allegedly told investigators Clemens had told him his youngest brother had strangled his mother.

Accessory: Andrew Cobb, 18, allegedly put a bag over his mother's head and helped dispose of her body

Accessory: Andrew Cobb, 18, allegedly put a bag over his mother's head and helped dispose of her body

The informant allegedly asked Clemens what he had done with her body. He replied: 'Oh, it's somewhere'.

When police first interviewed him in June, he denied any involvement in the killing, the Star-Tribune reports.

But on July 6 he allegedly confessed, saying 'he didn't know if he could take it any more and that he wanted to kill their mother'.

According to arrest documents, Clemens described how he heard the sounds of a struggle coming from the living room, and saw Jacob choking his mother on the floor.

That night the sons propped the body up against a pillar in the hall, police say.

The next day Clemens allegedly put his mother's body in a trash can and drove it to a friend's home in South Dakota with the intention of burning it, but changed his mind and brought it back to their Alberta home, where he put it in the shed.

He  told police he had to wait several months until the ground was soft enough to dig a hole for the body, according to arrest documents.

Officers found Ms Mason's remains in the back yard of their home on July 7.

An initial autopsy report said Ms Mason had died of  'asphyxiation due to neck compression resulting in a fractured larynx', the Tribune reports.

Jacob was charged in a juvenile court with two counts of second-degree murder, but police say it is likely he will be tried as an adult.

He is in custody along with his brother Andrew. Clemens is already in a St Cloud prison, serving time for a domestic violence conviction.

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