A Texas man accused of beating and strangling his mother in July tried to rape her dead body after the violent attack, authorities alleged in recently-released documents.
In arrest papers obtained by KABB, San Antonio police said Lindsey Turiano, 58, admitted to a doctor that he killed Norma Woods, 89. Officers who responded to a burglary call at their Stonybrook home on July 14 reportedly found Woods’ decomposing body in a bedroom and Turiano alive but unconscious in the kitchen.
“[Woods’] head was complete[ly] obliterated to the point that she was unrecognizable as a person. Most of her skull and brain were missing,” police wrote.
Investigators said Turiano had been lying on the floor for a few days before police discovered him and his mother’s decomposing body. Responding officers broke down the front door after noticing broken windows and a foul odor coming from the ransacked home, according to the San Antonio Express-News.
Turiano was reportedly discharged from the hospital last Friday but went to a different hospital’s psychiatric unit on Wednesday and made the confession to a doctor.
While Turiano was hospitalized, police inspected the grisly crime scene—where they reportedly found a broken knife with bone and tissue fragments attached to it.
Law enforcement officials suspect the attack on Woods began in the bedroom and that she was dragged throughout the home. They noted that pieces of her skull were found in the living room and blood was on the carpet. The Express-News reported that human tissue with teeth attached was also recovered from the home.
During questioning, Turiano allegedly confessed to attacking and strangling Woods before beating her with a stick in the living room until she died. Detectives also accused Turiano of stripping his elderly mother naked and trying to rape her.
“Once dead the defendant dragged the victim into the back room and again engaged in sexual acts with the deceased victim,” the arrest report charged.
An autopsy revealed that Woods suffered multiple blunt force trauma and stab wounds to her chest, neck, and lower left leg. She sustained fractures to her jaw and upper left arm in addition to multiple puncture wounds to the back of her left arm, the Express-News reported, citing detectives.
Turiano remains jailed on murder charges. A motive remains unclear.
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[Featured image: Lindsey Turiano/KABB video screengrab]
