Oliver Funes, 18 years old, called 911 around 12:45 pm on Monday to report that his mother had been killed at their home in Franklin County, North Carolina. When the police arrived, they saw Oliver walking down the street holding his mom’s severed head in one hand and a butcher’s knife in the other, the Daily Mail reports.
It turned out, Oliver was the one who killed Yesenia Funes Beatriz Machado, who was 35 years old. Police found her body inside their home. Franklin County Sheriff Kent Winstead said that Funes has been charged with first-degree murder regarding the incident.
Funes had already been in his first trial in court and he was held in jail without bond. According to Winstead, the boy has two younger sisters and he confirmed that they were present at home when the murder happened but were left unharmed. A fourth child was at school.
Police did not give enough information on what caused the mother’s death or what prompted Funes to execute his mom.
Ryan Reader, one of the family’s neighbors, told WBTW, “Complete and utter shock. This whole area is a quiet area and I didn’t know what to expect when I got home and saw police cars and everything around.”
Winstead said, “It looked to be a large butcher knife, the weapon that was used. I can’t tell you how many stab wounds or cuts. We just haven’t gotten that far in the investigation.”
He added, “It’s a terrible situation for the family, a terrible situation for the neighborhood and this county. I’m just glad things worked out the way they did and no one else was hurt in taking the suspect into custody.”
Terry Wright, chief of staff of Franklin Sheriff’s department, told ABC News, “We’ll be here as long as it takes to do a thorough search. We owe it to the victims to make sure it’s done in a proper manner—to make sure once it gets to the courthouse, justice can be served.”
Authorities removed the victim’s body from the home around 8:30. Investigators still had no sufficient evidence or information to find out what made the suspect kill his own mother.
Eddie Garner, one of the neighbors, told ABC about the time the husband arrived home, “It’s hard to comprehend. I don’t know what they told him. I mean, we just heard him crying and you could hear him all over the place. I mean he definitely never expected something like this to happen.”
