Questions surrounding a possibly emptied 401(k) account and kitchen knives allegedly transported from home are fueling speculation that the fatal stabbing of a Pennsylvania father and his 3-year-old son may have been planned.
Metallica Harrison, 27, has been charged in the deaths of her husband, Charles “Chaz” Harrison, and their young son inside a room at Great Wolf Lodge in Pennsylvania’s Poconos region.
April Thetga, the suspect’s stepmother, told News Media that she remains stunned by the tragedy and believes the events may have been deliberately arranged ahead of time.
Thetga said Harrison may have withdrawn the money from her 401(k) before the family began a three-week stay at the resort. It was not immediately known whether Chaz was aware that the account may have been emptied.
Metallica and Charles “Chaz” Harrison appeared to have been married for three years before police accused her of stabbing her husband and their young child. (Pocono Township Police Department; Facebook/Meta: Chaz Harrison)
Thetga said investigators found kitchen knives at the hotel that had reportedly been brought from the family’s modest home in Towanda.
“This was definitely preplanned, which is horrifying,” Thetga said.
Court documents identify Towanda, Pennsylvania, as the Harrison family’s home. Metallica Harrison is accused of killing her husband, Charles, and their 3-year-old son. (Google Maps)
A probable cause affidavit says officers found the knives, blood and medications inside the family’s hotel room.
Police were first dispatched after the suspect placed a 911 call in which she was described as “suicidal.”
A Pennsylvania mother is accused of stabbing her husband and their 3-year-old son to death at Great Wolf Lodge. (Facebook/Meta: Chaz Harrison)
The alleged killings brought the family’s three-week vacation at the popular resort to a horrific end. Room rates there can run from several hundred dollars to as much as $2,000.
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The length and cost of the stay prompted questions about how the working-class couple paid for it. Thetga said Chaz worked for a cabinetry company in Sayre, while Metallica held an undisclosed job in health care.
A father and son were found dead inside a Great Wolf Lodge hotel room in Pennsylvania’s Poconos on Oct. 12, 2026. (Great Wolf Lodge)
Thetga, the grieving grandmother, described feeling devastated and angry over the sudden, violent deaths of her husband’s son and her grandson.
Family members remember Chaz Harrison as a man “whose whole life was centered around his wife and child,” according to a social media post. (Facebook/Meta: Chaz Harrison)
“I want to hear him say ‘Grandma April look at me!’ I want it back, I need it back. I’m so broken, angry and just don’t understand. She just destroyed our whole lives,” Thetga said.
She said she longs to hold her grandson and show him her love, adding that “he didn’t deserve this.”
Police say Chaz and his son were both found with stab wounds inside their room at Great Wolf Lodge. (Facebook/Meta: Chaz Harrison)
Harrison remains held without bond in the Monroe County jail as she awaits her next court hearing.
Authorities said that the investigation into the murders is active and ongoing.