LEESBURG, Florida—“It feels like I’m in hell.”
Lauren Carlton spoke exclusively to Inside Lake this week about the death of her fiancé, Austin Graham, at the hands of her father, James Carlton last month.
Carlton was accused of shooting Austin in the head and killing him after Austin stopped to talk to Carlton in the middle of Whitney Road in unincorporated Leesburg June 22. Austin, 26, recognized Carlton’s truck, Lake County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Fred Jones said last month, and stopped to talk to the grandfather of his children. After a brief conversation, Carlton, who was known to carry a gun, shot Austin and fled the area. Carlton called his wife, who he had recently reunited with, after being estranged for more than a decade.
Lauren, 26, was on the phone with her mom when Carlton called her and moments later, she called Lauren back to tell her that her father had shot Austin. Not long after, Carlton texted Lauren, “I’m sorry.”
Carlton was arrested for Austin’s murder at a Marion County bar, near the Lake County Line. Lauren said her dad was drunk when he was arrested. “Whiskey turns him into the devil. That’s the best way I can say it.”
Carlton died of a heart attack a little over a week later.
Lauren reached out to Inside Lake to clear Austin’s name and dispel rumors that have been spreading on social media following Austin’s death.
Together five years and engaged for 4.5 of those years, Lauren met Austin through his sister, one of Lauren’s close friends. Austin’s sister Ronni was taking Lauren to get a tattoo and they stopped by Austin’s house. Lauren had a word tattooed on her neck and that word would later become their daughter’s name. Lauren did not want to name her children for this article. They shared two children, a 3-year-old girl and a 1-year-old boy and had decided to have a third baby just before he was murdered.
“Austin never once put his hands on me. Never.”
Lauren said LCSO detectives immediately asked her if Austin abused her and she very clearly told them, “no.” Lauren does not have social media pages, but people close to her have told that numerous comments have been made that her dad killed Austin because he was abusive. Lauren said that just is not true. “My dad knew Austin never put his hands on me,” she told Inside Lake.
She does not know exactly what set Carlton off that day but was extremely candid about his battles with alcohol throughout the years. Lauren said Carlton gave up drinking for the first time in her life when she got pregnant with her daughter but had recently started again due to pressure in his personal life.
“My dad, my entire life, was an abusive alcoholic. Honestly, I don’t really feel like it was about Austin. I don’t know. It was my dad’s hate for himself.”
Carlton had recently reunited with Lauren’s mom and Lauren believes the pressure of responsibilities got to him. Austin and Carlton had not argued recently and there was no indication this was going to happen other than Carlton had started drinking again.
“The pressure. My dad, my whole life could never handle the pressure of being a father, or having a wife, or doing what was right. I feel like he snapped.”
Lauren said she remembers when she was younger, she would know what kind of day it was going to be by the way Carlton’s truck was parked.
“I used to get off the bus and I could see the way his truck was parked, and I wouldn’t want to get off the bus because I knew he was (extremely drunk.)”
Lauren said Carlton beat her mom several times, “It was a bad childhood.”
Lauren feels like Carlton was looking for Austin that day; Lauren and Austin frequented a property off Whitney Road and several people with video surveillance have since told her Carlton’s truck drove up and down the road several times before the murder.
Lauren is trying to heal and stay strong for her babies, but she is having a tough time, “I just never knew anything could hurt this much. I want everybody to know how good Austin was.”
“I feel like God gave me Austin and my dad took him away.”
