A man is suspected of killing his mother and streaming video footage of her body online.
The man, 24, posted video of her body live from her North Salt Lake apartment on Friday, police wrote in jail documents. In the video, the woman is seen slumped over, with what appears to be blood on her face, police wrote. The man in the video says the woman shot herself, but that she’s not dead, and “I have to finish it,” police wrote. The woman could, in fact, be seen breathing in the video, police wrote.
In a second video, the man repeats that the woman shot herself, but adds that he is not going to prison or jail, police wrote. Again, he says she is still alive, and says that it would be his last day, police wrote. In a third video, the man says his mother deserves a good sendoff, police wrote.
In an interview with police, the man said that his mother had taken 18 benzodiazepine pills, slit her own throat and and shot herself in the head “a total of three times,” investigators wrote. The man said he had placed his mother’s head on a pillow and put rosary beads around her neck, police wrote.
But at the scene, investigators found the woman’s body in the living room, and the revolver in her hand was in the cocked-and-ready position, police wrote. There were three empty chambers in the cylinder — but the casings were in the man’s bedroom, not with the woman’s body in the living room, police wrote. And although the woman appears to be alive in the video, she would not have been able to manipulate a gun to shoot herself two more times, police wrote.
When investigators confronted the man with that information, he said his mother shot herself first, but then he shot her again because she was in pain, police wrote. He also said the revolver was cocked because he was going to kill himself, police wrote. The man said he posted the videos on Facebook as a call for help, police wrote.
The man said he and his mother were drinking together before the shooting, and he’d had “a pint or a few shots of whiskey,” police wrote. Police wrote that they found what appeared to be a suicide note from the woman at the scene, but court documents do not discuss its authenticity.
The man was arrested on Saturday and booked into the Davis County jail on suspicion of murder, obstruction of justice, and carrying a dangerous weapon under the influence of alcohol.
