A Blue Origin employee married to a prominent trans author has been accused of killing her father with an ice ax on election night.
Corey Burke, 33, allegedly beat, stabbed and strangled his father, Timothy Burke, 67, in a fatal attack at their $800,000 Seattle home on Nov. 5.
Burke, a training manager at Jeff Bezos’ rocket and spacecraft company, confessed to killing his father after he refused to turn off the lights, according to charging documents seen by DailyMail.com.
After leaving the house with blood “dripping” down his face, he confessed to police that he “got scared” and said there was “something important about Election Day.” Burke is also said to have told police he “felt better” after his murdered father “went limp.”
Burke reportedly told detectives that he “knew he couldn’t convince his father to keep the lights off,” so he went upstairs and retrieved the murder weapon.
He then tripped his father and strangled him before attacking him with the ice axe.
Burke, who bought the house with a $540,000 mortgage in 2023, then bit him and hit him several times in the head and side with the blunt, sharp ends of the ice ax, police say. His body was found in the basement.
Blue Origin employee Corey Burke, 33, allegedly killed her father during a mental health crisis on Election Day at their Seattle home.
Burke’s home, valued at $800,000, is shown in the photo. Police say he smashed the windows in an “act of liberation” after killing his father.
The alleged killer is married to trans author Samantha Leigh Allen. They are pictured together
Burke claimed he knew the murder “had to happen today,” according to a police report.
Investigators say Burke left the Rainier Valley home with a bloody face and appeared to be having a mental health crisis.
Burke had apparently broken several windows and later told police he did so in an “act of release” after killing his father.
The police report also includes his claims that he had been “reborn” on his 33rd birthday last month.
Police did not initially enter the home, and detectives only entered after neighbors expressed concern about his father.
A neighbor first called 911 after seeing his windows shattered. The officer who responded to that call discovered the horror it had unleashed inside him.
Burke allegedly admitted to killing his father and breaking windows afterwards “as an act of liberation.”
The interior of the Burkes’ Rainer Valley home is seen above.
The director of the Blue Origin project told police she wanted to help people “change their attachment to their parents.”
Burke’s wife, trans author Samantha Leigh Allen (left). She previously worked at The Daily Beast and is currently an editor at Condé Nast. He has not yet commented on the accusations against his wife.
Police say they recovered a bloody silver and blue ice climbing spike at the crime scene.
Burke was initially taken to a hospital for a mental health evaluation.
The day after the murder he reportedly whispered to a police officer: “I killed him.”
He also allegedly told police that as his father struggled to breathe after the attack, “the defendant sat next to him until he stopped breathing.”
Burke added that she had a strained relationship with her father and said she had felt “overwhelmed” on Election Day.
He added that he wanted to help people “change their attachment to their parents.”
According to police documents, Burke allegedly described how he killed his father, saying “it was very difficult, very difficult” and “there were points where he felt like he wasn’t going to be able to do it.”
Burke was charged with first-degree murder on Friday and is being held on $2 million bail.
He is due to appear in court on November 21.
Neighbors told police that the father and daughter lived together at the home and that Timothy was mostly housebound due to health issues.
He bought the house he shared with his father in 2023.
His wife, Samantha Leigh Allen, is editor of Conde Nast’s transgender news website Them.
Allen previously worked as a writer covering LGBTQ issues for The Daily Beast and Fusion.
DailyMail.com has contacted Blue Origin for comment on this story.