A Whitingham man facing two counts of murder in the shooting death of a mother and her son told police his actions were “calculated” and that he would rather be in jail than in an “old folks home,” according to charging documents made public Tuesday.

Christopher Ellis, 54, was set to be arraigned Tuesday in Windham County Superior criminal court on the two charges of first-degree murder in the deaths Lucy Garvin, 79, and her son, Michael Garvin, 52, last week at a home they all shared on Route 8A in Whitingham.

Ellis, through his public defender Joshua Atkisson, invoked his right to wait a day before entering a plea to the charges against him. He is being held in custody without bail pending his arraignment Wednesday.

Police had reported Ellis’ arrest on Saturday but the charging documents in the case made public Tuesday provided greater detail of the investigation into the killings by Vermont State Police. 

Ellis spoke with investigators Friday after he was taken into custody in Brattleboro after being found driving Michael Garvin’s truck, according to an affidavit written by state police Detective Sgt. James Vooris.

“I did what I did, so I’m going to, you know, so I have no problem admitting it,” Vooris quoted Ellis as saying to investigators. 

Ellis, the affidavit stated, told authorities he had been living with the Garvins since April, having met Michael Garvin while the two were in prison together.

Haley Sommer, a spokesperson for the state Department of Corrections, confirmed Tuesday that both men had previously been in corrections custody, but according to department records, they were not in the same Vermont prison at the same time.

“They never overlapped,” Sommer said.  

Ellis told police that Lucy Garvin accused him of trying to have sexual contact with her, which he denied, and Ellis complained about the living conditions in the apartment as “gross,” according to the affidavit. 

Ellis said he had been considering killing Michael Garvin for weeks, adding that Ellis “just couldn’t stand him,” Vooris wrote in the filing. 

“Ellis also advised that recently he has been thinking how he is getting older and doesn’t have a retirement plan,” the affidavit stated. “He explained he would rather be in jail than an ‘old folks home’ and described what he did as ‘calculated.’” 

Ellis told investigators that because Lucy Garvin was in the home at the time he decided to act that “she had to go,” Vooris wrote.

According to the affidavit, Ellis reported he shot the Garvins with a .38 special revolver sometime on Wednesday or Thursday, between noon and 2 p.m. He said he shot Michael Garvin two times while he was in the living room and then shot Lucy Garvin once in the bathroom, the affidavit stated.

“Ellis explained he returned to Michael and shot him additional times, until the firearm was empty,” Vooris wrote. 

Ellis told investigators he then left the residence in Michael Garvin’s truck and went to Holyoke, Massachusetts, on Friday, with a woman he did not identify, and sold the firearm for $150, which he used to buy cocaine and then returned to Vermont, according to the affidavit. 

The Garvins were found dead in the home by a relative who went to check on them Friday night, the affidavit stated.

The Brattleboro Reformer reported that Ellis has a criminal record dating back to 1989 in Vermont, including past convictions for burglary, grand larceny and escaping from custody.

Each charge of first-degree murder carries a maximum penalty of up to life in prison without parole.