A 27-year-old man from Texas will spend the rest of his life behind bars after killing his own father in a shocking and tragic crime. Yacob Hickman shot his dad, 51-year-old Paul Stautzenberger, six times in the head and neck. What’s even more chilling is that Hickman told a 911 operator afterward that it felt “great” to do it.
On Friday, Caldwell County District Judge Bruce Boyer sentenced Hickman to life in prison for the 2022 killing. The horrific incident took place in Canyon Lake, Texas, about 60 miles southwest of Austin.
It all started just after midnight on June 29, 2022, when Hickman called 911 from his home on Campbell Drive. On the call, he confessed to shooting his father and told the dispatcher he had “emptied six rounds” into him. For over 20 minutes, Hickman stayed on the line, admitting he needed to work on controlling his anger and that he fully understood what he had done and what the consequences would be.
During the call, he didn’t hold back his emotions. “I can’t say that I’m sorry,” Hickman said. “To be honest with you, I feel so f—ing great.”
When deputies arrived at the scene, they found Stautzenberger’s body on the couch. He had been eating a salad when his son shot him. Investigators determined that Hickman had moved to Canyon Lake from Louisiana just a week before the murder. His father had encouraged him to relocate, believing it would lead to better job opportunities for him.
During the trial, prosecutors played the haunting 911 call and recordings of Hickman’s conversations from jail. In one of the calls, Hickman said that he and his dad were having a simple conversation before things escalated. He claimed his father “kept on wanting to run his f—ing mouth.” In another call to his mother, Hickman said, “The most important thing is that if I ever did get out of here, what guarantees me from ever getting stuck in positions that would cause me to come back?”
Family members of the victim gave emotional impact statements in court, describing how Hickman had taken the life of the one person who truly wanted him to succeed. Prosecutors emphasized how senseless the tragedy was, especially since Stautzenberger had tried to help his son start fresh in Texas.
After the sentencing, the Comal County Criminal District Attorney’s Office expressed gratitude for the jury’s decision. “This sentence was not only justified but necessary to protect the community, based on Hickman’s own statements in his jail calls,” they said in a statement. They hoped the outcome would give the family a sense of justice and peace after such a devastating loss.
