Former Bartlett man found guilty but mentally ill in mother's 2019 stabbing death
BARTLETT, Ill. - Following a week-long bench trial, a former Bartlett man was found guilty but mentally ill in his mother's stabbing death in 2019.
Edward Mitzelfeld, 69, was found guilty on Friday following a trial that ended on March 22.
He was facing five counts of first-degree murder on May 31, 2019, and appeared in bond court. His bond was set at $5 million, with 10% to apply, according to officials.
Mitzelfeld never bonded out and has remained in the DuPage County Jail since.
His charges stem from an incident that occurred just before 5:30 p.m. on May 29, 2019.
Mitzelfeld was living with his 93-year-old mother. When officers arrived at the home, they found his mother lying on their kitchen floor in a pool of blood.
He was located in the front yard with his hands up in the air.
Investigators determined that Mitzelfeld and his mother were in the kitchen together when he stabbed her several times in the back with a kitchen knife, police say.
The wounds severed her aorta and into her lungs, authorities say. After her death, Mitzelfeld called 911.
"This is a tragic case that has surely taken a tremendous toll on Frances’ and Edward’s entire family," Du Page County State's Attorney Robert Berlin said. "It is my sincerest hope that with the trial now behind them, Frances’ surviving family and friends will somehow be able to gain some measure of closure on this horrible chapter in their lives and remember Frances for how she lived and not how she died. I thank the trial team of Assistant State’s Attorneys Rob Willis, Nicole Wilkes-English and Alyssa Rabulinski for their work in holding Mr. Mitzelfeld responsible for his actions in this very sad case."
He is set to appear in court again on May 10, 2024.
