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.
Reed 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, a 4K Educational Assistant at Knapp Elementary School.
The gruesome discovery of her death 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: Teen charged with stabbing his mother to death in Caledonia
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
Officers found Suzanne near the front of the home with stab wounds and blood-soaked clothing. Despite life-saving efforts, she could not be revived.
The bloodied kitchen knife dropped by the teen was recovered, along with another knife near the sink and a dumbbell bar by the fridge, according to the complaint.
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 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.”
Remembering the mother and educator
Now, just days after the tragic stabbing, staff and parents at Knapp Elementary School are left to mourn and make sense of Suzanne's death.
"It shocked everyone for sure. It was very sad," said Ketti Bingen, a parent whose child was one of Gelinskey’s students.
Gelinskey was an educational assistant at Knapp Elementary, where many are still coping with the loss.
"We're just all trying to work through everything the best we can. We take it day by day," Bingen said.
As they work through the tragedy, many, like Bingen, whose son was taught by Gelinskey, say they’re choosing to remember the educator for her kindness and positive attitude.
"She always had a smile on her face. She could brighten every kid, even if they were crabby—she knew how to help them," Bingen said.
Families in Gelinskey’s neighborhood say they’ve seen an uptick in traffic on their street. In an email to TMJ4 News, they’re asking people to please keep their distance from the crime scene as they work through difficult conversations with their children.
The Racine Unified School District says it has activated a crisis team and is making support resources available to staff and students.
Reed will be allowed supervised contact with his father through the juvenile detention center. He's due back in court on March 12 for a preliminary hearing, according to court records.
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