Mom beats friend to death with ceramic angel, says he abused her son, WI cops say
A Wisconsin mother has been charged in connection to the death of a 77-year-old man found in his basement with his face severely beaten, Wisconsin police said.
On Feb. 12, a 43-year-old woman was found wandering Cedarburg, Wisconsin, wearing a shower curtain, according to a criminal complaint.
When confronted, she told police that she had attacked her 77-year-old friend after she said he had sexually assaulted her and her 22-year-old non-verbal, autistic son in his New Berlin home, according to the complaint.
Police performed a wellness check on the man and found him dead in his basement, seeing “his face had suffered significant injuries,” the complaint said.
In addition to the bathroom being in disarray, officers discovered a broken ceramic angel and ceramic pieces on the floor around the man’s body, police said.
In an interview with police, the mother said she observed the man in the shower “engaged in sexual contact” with her son, according to the complaint.
She told police she chased the 77-year-old down to the basement where he “grabbed her inappropriately” and attacked her, police said.
She admitted to striking the man with the ceramic angel eight times, trying to gouge out his eyes, and biting him in the face, according to police.
The Waukesha County Medical Examiner found the man died after suffering extensive sharp force trauma to the head and neck, four broken ribs and internal bleeding, and his death was ruled as a homicide, police said.
The suspect’s mother and 17-year-old daughter told police that the man “was a longtime family friend” who often helped the 43-year-old woman care for her son, the complaint said.
The woman took her son to visit with the 77-year-old “almost every day,” according to the family.
The suspect admitted to knowing the man for 14 years and had previously lived with him for five to seven years, the complaint said.
The Glendale woman was charged Feb. 28 with first-degree intentional homicide, according to Waukesha County court records.
McClatchy News was unable to locate contact information for the suspect’s attorney.
She is being held on a $1 million bond and is due back in court March 8, court records show.
McClatchy News is not identifying the suspect to protect the identity of her son.
New Berlin is about 15 miles southwest of downtown Milwaukee.
If you have experienced sexual assault and need someone to talk to, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline for support at 1-800-656-4673 or visit the hotline's online chatroom.
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