Wisconsin man charged with beheading mother with sword
Matthew Skalitzky, left, appears in Dane County court today, with his lawyer Stan Woodard in Madison, Wis. (Ed Trevelen/Wisconsin State Journal via AP)
MADISON, Wis. » A Wisconsin man prosecutors say is severely mentally ill was charged Monday in the death of his mother, who was beheaded with a sword.
Matthew Skalitzky, 40, appeared in court, where his bail was set at $1 million, the Wisconsin State Journal reported. He’s accused in the Sept. 11 death of his mother, 68-year-old Jane Skalitzky, at a townhouse in the Madison suburb of Sun Prairie.
Skalitzky became upset with his mother, a retired special education teacher, after she found a box containing knives and a sword, Assistant District Attorney Corey Stephan said.
The prosecutor said Matthew Skalitzky is severely mentally ill and saw people, including his mother, as inhuman clones.
After killing his mother, Stephan said, Skalitzky told his roommate that he had “hacked the clone.”
Dane County Court Commissioner Dan Floeter said that while bail was largely a formality, he set it at $1 million, saying that he wanted to make sure that Skalitzky remains in custody.
Don't miss out on what's happening!
Stay in touch with top news, as it happens, conveniently in your email inbox. It's FREE!
Defense attorney Stan Woodard had argued bail wasn’t necessary because Skalitzky was being held in a mental health facility.
According to a criminal complaint, when Matthew Skalitzky and his mother arrived at the townhouse, the roommate told police, Jane Skalitzky was friendly and greeted him while her son seemed “distant and unemotional.”
About 10 to 15 minutes later, the roommate said he heard stomping noises from upstairs and went to investigate. When he got about halfway up the stairs, he heard Jane Skalitzky yelling, “No, no, no,” according to the complaint.
He got upstairs to find Matthew Skalitzky holding a sword and the mother’s body on the floor, decapitated, the complaint said.
The roommate took the sword from Skalitzky without resistance, led him downstairs and told him to sit on the couch, according to the complaint. The roommate called 911.
When police arrived, they saw Skalitzky coming down the stairs from the second floor and took him into custody, according to the complaint. The sword was found just outside the front door. When asked if his mother was dead, Skalitzky responded, “Yes, but she’s not my real mother,” the complaint said.
A preliminary hearing is set for Oct. 6.
