The neighbor of a Washington woman accused of murdering her father with an ice ax thought the sounds of his alleged slaughter was "people getting upset over this election."
Corey Burke, 33, has been charged with first-degree murder, jail records show. She's being held on $2 million bond.
Burke is accused in the brutal ice ax slaying of her dad, 67-year-old Timothy Burke, on Election Night, according to prosecutors, KOMO-TV, KING-TV and The Seattle Times reported.
An argument between the pair over lighting in their Seattle home Nov. 5 allegedly motivated Burke to kill, so she purportedly grabbed an ice ax, tripped, strangled, bit and hit her father "several times in the head and side with the blunt and sharp ends of the ice ax," said prosecutors, according to KOMO.
The ax penetrated Timothy's lungs and rib cage.
Burke sat next to her dad until he stopped breathing. She then allegedly proceeded to bust out the windows of their home.
Neighbors called police when they heard the sounds of glass breaking.
"My first thought was, 'Are people getting upset over this election? Or is somebody trying to break and enter?'" a neighbor said, according to the station.
Responding officers claimed to hear a "clapping" noise when they arrived on the scene.
That's when they encountered a bloodied Burke, who alleged "she had been clapping inside her home, because she was happy, so she started clapping," said prosecutors.
Timothy's body was located inside the basement and Burke was taken to a hospital for a mental health evaluation.
At the hospital, police questioned her about the night of the alleged murder.
Burke purportedly told detectives there was "something important" about Election Day, and that she was emotionally inundated.
"Corey stated (when) her father started arguing with her about the lights being shut off that she 'just freaked out,'" Det. Azrielle Brikey wrote in the police report, according to the Times.
Burke allegedly whispered a damning confession to Brikey: "I killed him."
Burke is set for arraignment Nov. 21.
