Left to right: Samantha Neiber, Mason Clarke (Douglas County Sheriff's Office).
A Nebraska woman teamed up with her boyfriend and helped him kill her own mother — pinning the mom's wrists to the ground while the boyfriend suffocated her with a sock — following an argument over a grandchild, police say.
Samantha Neiber, 25, and Mason Clarke, 30, were hosting a barbecue on Saturday at their home in Elkhorn, Nebraska, when Samantha Neiber's mother, Jennifer Neiber, began fighting with Clarke about Samantha Neiber's child, according to a Douglas County Sheriff's Office press release and statement provided to Law&Crime.
"The verbal argument turned physical and culminated with Clarke placing a sock into Jennifer's mouth while Samantha held Jennifer's wrists to the ground," the release says. "Jennifer was pronounced deceased at the scene by Omaha Fire Department medical personnel."
The sheriff's office alleges that Jennifer Neiber, 57, was upset about something regarding Samantha Neiber's 3-year-old, who is not Clarke's child.
"After Samantha's child was put to bed, Jennifer became involved in an argument with Clarke regarding Samantha's child," the DCSO release says.
Deputies responded to the home where the family was at around 10 p.m. after receiving a call about a "suspicious death." They arrived at the scene and located two individuals, Clarke and Samantha Neiber, "sitting on a bed," with Jennifer Neiber dead on the floor in front of them.
Clarke was interviewed by police and then arrested on suspicion of child abuse by neglect without injury and second-degree murder. Samantha Neiber was arrested and charged with accessory to a Class I felony and child abuse by neglect without injury.
The child in question was transported and temporarily placed with a local domestic abuse and child advocacy center known as Project Harmony. It's unclear what happened to spark the alleged argument between Clarke and Jennifer Neiber. He and Samantha Neiber are being held at the Douglas County Correctional Center in Omaha.