ICE officials have confirmed that a North Carolina teen who has been charged with chopping off his mother’s head with a butcher knife is in the United States illegally.
Oliver Funes-Machado, 18, is originally from Honduras and is accused of repeatedly stabbing his 35-year-old mother in their Zebulon home Monday. He allegedly beheaded her and then walked outside, holding her head in one hand and the knife in the other as he waited for Franklin County deputies to arrive. He was the one who called 911.
Sheriff Ken Winstead released a statement, saying that two siblings, a 4-year-old sister and 2-year-old brother, were in the home at the time of the attack. The father arrived about 4 hours after his wife was killed, and deputies say he was overcome with grief.
According to WNCN, the teen told the 911 dispatcher that he killed his mother “because I felt like it.” Machado said he stabbed her “like 8 times” and left a knife in her mouth.
News reports say deputies found medication prescribed to Machado that is reportedly used to treat psychosis and schizophrenia.
The district attorney’s office released the following statement:
The circumstances of this crime are very unusual and horrific. While it is too early to know for sure what the Defendant’s mental state was at the time of the murder, it will be reviewed at the appropriate time and place.
In the meantime, the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office and the District Attorney’s Office will continue to prepare the case for trial.
Wake County Public Schools have reported that the teen was a student at Rolesville High School, but he stopped attending last year.
Neighbors told WNCN that they they hardly knew the family and never saw Funes-Machado. “It’s horrendous, unbelievable that something like this would happen,” neighbor Randy Mullins told WBTV. “It’s hard to get over what happened to these people yesterday. And now—that family will be changed forever.”
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