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(MUNSTER, Ind., February 23rd, 2004, 1 p.m.) -- A woman told police she used a pitchfork and two knives to kill and decapitate her 81-year-old mother, a court document filed Monday said.
Margaret Church, 54, said that on Feb. 13, she dragged her bedridden mother, Margaret Jansky, out of bed and onto the floor face up, a probable cause affidavit said.
Church then placed the pitchfork on Jansky's throat and stepped on it, trying to decapitate her mother, the affidavit said. When the pitchfork did not work, she used two kitchen knives to cut off Jansky's head and put it in a plastic bag, police said.
The affidavit didn't include a statement about why Church might have done it.
Church was being held without bond Monday on a murder charge and is scheduled to make her initial court appearance Tuesday.
Police said they went to the home Friday, a week after Jansky's death, after someone alerted them that they had heard Church say she killed her mother.
Police said they had been to the home once after Church poisoned her dog and again after she tried to commit suicide.
When police arrived Friday, Church refused to let them in, telling them they would need a warrant. Then she said, "the queen" was sleeping and "she will be sleeping for a long time," the affidavit said.
Police then knocked down the door to enter the home in the town just south of Hammond. They found Jansky's body covered with blankets in the kitchen and her head in a plastic bag behind the garbage can.
Police said they found the knives wrapped in aluminum foil in a garbage can in the garage.
(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
(MUNSTER, Ind., February 23rd, 2004, 1 p.m.) -- A woman told police she used a pitchfork and two knives to kill and decapitate her 81-year-old mother, a court document filed Monday said.
Margaret Church, 54, said that on Feb. 13, she dragged her bedridden mother, Margaret Jansky, out of bed and onto the floor face up, a probable cause affidavit said.
Church then placed the pitchfork on Jansky's throat and stepped on it, trying to decapitate her mother, the affidavit said. When the pitchfork did not work, she used two kitchen knives to cut off Jansky's head and put it in a plastic bag, police said.
The affidavit didn't include a statement about why Church might have done it.
Church was being held without bond Monday on a murder charge and is scheduled to make her initial court appearance Tuesday.
Police said they went to the home Friday, a week after Jansky's death, after someone alerted them that they had heard Church say she killed her mother.
Police said they had been to the home once after Church poisoned her dog and again after she tried to commit suicide.
When police arrived Friday, Church refused to let them in, telling them they would need a warrant. Then she said, "the queen" was sleeping and "she will be sleeping for a long time," the affidavit said.
Police then knocked down the door to enter the home in the town just south of Hammond. They found Jansky's body covered with blankets in the kitchen and her head in a plastic bag behind the garbage can.
Police said they found the knives wrapped in aluminum foil in a garbage can in the garage.
(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
