Police say mother killed Soprano-style
January 28, 2003
BY ERICA WARNER
SANTA ANA, Calif.--Two young men originally from Illinois killed their mother and covered up the act by chopping off her head and hands the way they saw it done on ''The Sopranos,'' authorities said Monday.
Jason Bautista, 20, and his 15-year-old half brother, who was not identified because of his age, were arrested over the weekend for investigation of murder, Sheriff Michael Carona said.
Carona refused to say where Jane M. Bautista, 41, was killed but said a preliminary autopsy showed she was strangled. Her head and hands were found in the apartment she shared with her sons in Riverside, Calif.
''I don't know what motive you could possibly give for killing your mother,'' Carona said.
The family, originally from Illinois, moved to California six years ago and had moved into the Riverside apartment about six months ago.
Bautista's grandmother, Charlie May Funderburk, said she was shocked by the boys' arrest.
''They were good kids,'' said Funderburk, 89, who lives in far north suburban Winthrop Harbor. ''I really don't think Jason could have done it. ... He is really crazy about his mother.''
According to the sheriff, Bautista was killed and dismembered Jan. 14.
AP |
