Jason Campbell, 35, drew a 10-year prison term Friday for torching his mother’s corpse and feeding 911 a story about extraterrestrials.
Judge Albert Collier handed down the maximum sentence after a Banks County jury convicted Campbell of concealing a death. The charge stemmed from the discovery of Marie Campbell’s charred remains in her own backyard in Homer, Georgia, roughly 75 miles northeast of Atlanta.
The 65-year-old woman lived with her son at the property where she was found. She was reported missing January 6, with her car, purse, ID and phone all left behind. Family members and neighbors launched a frantic search of the area.
Two days later, Campbell shifted his account. He told investigators that an unknown person had collected his mother from their house three days prior and that he had not heard from her since.
But authorities already knew about an earlier call. The day before that interview, Campbell had phoned emergency officials and informed them that his mother had been “abducted by aliens.”
That bizarre claim triggered a search of the family property. Officers located Marie Campbell’s burned remains in the backyard, positioned near a still-smoldering fire and a burned mattress. They also found a vehicle with a seat either removed or folded down, with a mud-covered sheet draped across the spot.
An autopsy confirmed the remains belonged to Marie Campbell. Her son was charged in February 2025 with concealing her death. Prosecutors have not disclosed how she died, and Campbell was never accused of causing her death.
Georgia law elevates concealment of a death to a felony when it obstructs investigators from determining whether the person was unlawfully killed. Prosecutors proved during a five-day trial late last month that Campbell had done exactly that.
The case began with Campbell’s January 8 call to 911, where he spun the alien abduction tale. His mother’s body was already burning when he made that claim, according to the timeline established by investigators.
Campbell’s sentencing closes a case that moved from missing-person panic to grotesque backyard discovery to courtroom conviction in under five months.
Campbell is expected to serve his sentence in the Georgia state prison system.