RACINE, Wis. — A 15-year-old from Caledonia is charged with first-degree intentional homicide in the stabbing death of his mother.
Reed Gelinskey, 15, is being charged as an adult after prosecutors say he planned to kill both his parents and was inspired by a recent documentary about the Menendez brothers.
Gelinskey made his first court appearance Thursday afternoon over Zoom, where the court commissioner set a $1 million cash bond. His mother was identified as Suzanne Gelinskey, and was confirmed by RUSD to be a 4K Educational Assistant.
The gruesome discovery was made after officers were dispatched to the 10000 block of White Manor Court around 10:30 p.m. on March 4 for a report of a juvenile who stabbed his mother to death.
A caller told dispatch she had received a Snapchat photo showing a woman, later identified as Suzanne, lying face-up on her back and another image with blood on the floor, according to a criminal complaint filed Thursday.
The teen allegedly told the caller he needed help and had stabbed his mother.
That night, according to the complaint, the teen watched the Menendez brothers documentary on Netflix after dinner. He said his inspiration for the stabbing “came to him while he watched the shotgun scene.”
He then allegedly concocted a plan to kill his mother, hiding his sleep medication after she went upstairs in an effort to lure her back down to look for it.
When she came downstairs, the complaint says, he struck her over the head twice with a dumbbell in an attempt to knock her out so he could stab her with a kitchen knife. The teen allegedly threw her to the ground and stabbed her three times in the chest and twice in the neck, despite her attempts to fight him off.
Watch: 15-year-old arrested after mother found dead in Caledonia, neighbors 'in shock'
According to the complaint, the mother asked him “why,” and he replied, “pain.”
After the attack, the teen told investigators he contacted a friend on Snapchat, told her to call police, and sat on the floor until he heard sirens.
When officers arrived, they saw the teen exiting the house. As they approached, he dropped a brown and silver kitchen knife at the front stoop, saying, “She is dead,” and “She is dead from what I did,” and telling officers to kill him.
Officers discover the gruesome scene
Inside the home, officers found Suzanne near the front of the house with apparent stab wounds and blood-soaked clothing. They attempted life-saving measures, but she could not be revived.
Officers recovered a kitchen knife dropped by the teen, with blood on the blade and handle. Another kitchen knife was found near the kitchen sink with a drop of blood on the handle and blade, along with a silver adjustable dumbbell bar near a cabinet by the refrigerator.
The complaint states the teen also had plans to kill his father with a hammer when he came home from work but “could not find one large enough.” According to the complaint, the teen he came home from school that day "feeling depressed and having an urge to kill his parents."
He also told investigators he had been taking his brother’s anxiety medication for about a month, saying the medication “does not help his anxiety, but it makes him high and he enjoys that.”
What's next
Gelinskey will be allowed supervised contact with his father through the juvenile detention center. He is due back in court Friday.
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