Calif. Woman Beheaded; Son Is Suspect
D E L H I, Calif., Sept. 19 -- Deputies found Aurelia Lange lying on thebathroom floor, her decapitated head by her side. Her teenage sonwas nearby, naked, covered in blood and reading a Bible.
Investigators believe David Lange cut off his mother’s head witha kitchen knife, but they don’t know why.
“This is really weird because there’s no history [of violence]on this guy at all,” Assistant Merced County Sheriff HenryStrength said Monday. “We have no idea why this thing happened.”
Lange, an 18-year-old house painter, was being held without bailon suspicion of murdering his 50-year-old mother. He had been onprobation in the past, but probation officials said his file wassealed.
Mysterious Death
Relatives could not shed much light on the slaying last Fridayat Delhi, a town of 7,700 people in farmland about 110 miles southof San Francisco. Last month, the same county was shaken after twochildren were killed with pitchforks by an assailant who enteredtheir farmhouse.
Investigators discovered the killing after one of AureliaLange’s daughters called from a nearby town and asked deputies tocheck her mother, saying the woman had told her she fell down aflight of stairs.
Strength said the daughter also reported that the mother saidher “son was getting out of hand and that she was having argumentswith him.”
Deputies saw a man lying on the floor about 10 feet from AureliaLange’s body. He eventually walked out of the house andsurrendered.
Drug Tests Being Conducted
Strength would not comment on the possibility that Lange wasunder the influence of narcotics. Drug tests could take weeks tocomplete.
In the pitchfork killings, investigators incorrectly jumped tothe conclusion that drugs drove a man to break into the farmhouseand kill the children. Police shot and killed the intruder. Testseventually showed no evidence of drugs or alcohol.
“I would have given up a year’s salary to tell you [thepitchfork killer] was on drugs,” Strength said. “I don’t evenwant to speculate on this guy.”
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