Donna Scrivo guilty of strangling to death her son and cutting up his body
A jury in Michigan Monday found a 61-year-old woman guilty of killing and dismembering her adult son, rejecting her testimony that a masked armed intruder killed him and kept her hostage for five days.
A Macomb County Circuit Court jury convicted Donna Scrivo of first-degree murder and mutilation of a body.
Scrivo, a registered nurse, filed a missing person's report in January 2014, telling authorities that 32-year-old Ramsay Scrivo left their St. Clair Shores home and failed to return.
Donna Scrivo (left), 61, sobs on the witness stand at the Macomb County Circuit Court in Mount Clemens, Michigan, Monday, before a jury found her guilty of first-degree murder in the 2014 killing and dismemberment of her 32-year-old Ramsay Scrivo
Crocodile tears: As the last witness in her defense, Donna Scrivo testified that she found an armed man in her son's room who killed him and then made her help him dispose of the body
In closing arguments Monday, Assistant Prosecutor William Cataldo called Scrivo's account 'fake'
Five bags containing his body parts were found a few days later in St. Clair County, northeast of Detroit. An electric saw was in one of the bags.
According to prosecutors, Donna Scrivo drugged her son with Xanax, strangled him and dumped his body in a bathtub.
In closing arguments Monday, Assistant Prosecutor William Cataldo called Scrivo's account 'fake.'
'You either believe that ... or you believe the physical evidence,' Cataldo said.
Defense lawyer Mark Haddad pointed out that none of Ramsay Scrivo's DNA was found on his mother.
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ShareHaddad also said his 110-pound client couldn't lift the body of her 235-pound son into a bathtub and asked what reason she would have for killing and mutilating him.
'She would have to be the stupidest murderer in the world unless she was forced,' Haddad said. 'Unless she was directed at gunpoint to do these seemingly stupid things.'
First-degree murder carries a mandatory penalty of life in prison without possibility of parole under Michigan law. Judge Richard Caretti set her sentencing for June 23.
As the last witness in her defense, Donna Scrivo tearfully testified that she found the armed man in her son's room and that he made her help him, including carrying the bags with her son's remains out of the home and driving them to St. Clair County.
Weighty issue: Scrivo's defense attorney said his 110-pound client (left) couldn't lift the body of her 235-pound son (right) into a bathtub
Guardian: Ramsay Scrivo (far right) had been under his mother's protection since May 2013, following his father's death
'I'm not mother of the year. I have multiple problems,' Scrivo said. 'I think I did everything to protect the rest of my family. I did everything he told me to.'
It took the jury panel only two hours of deliberations to convict the defendant.
Scrivo, 61, stood quietly as the guilty verdict was announced, closing her eyes for a brief moment.
The remains of Ramsay Scrivo were discovered around 3pm on January 30, 2014, after a resident in China Township reported seeing bags on the side of the road.
Donna Scrivo had reported her son missing three days earlier, January 27. At the time, she told police that her son had left home the previous day and never came back.
Authorities eventually found bags containing Ramsay Scrivo's body dropped in four locations around China and St Clair Townships - about 50 miles northeast of Detroit.
Some of his remains were not in bags, and one bag contained clothes and charred paperwork.
Surveillance footage showed that Donna Scrivo was in the area around the time the bags were reported. Additional CCTV video captured her purchasing a circular saw.
Donna Scrivo (pictured in court last year) had reported her son missing three days before his remains were found. Surveillance footage showed that Scrivo was in the area around the time the bags were reported
Another witness reported seeing the woman carrying black plastic bags out of the condo in St Clair Shores she shared with her son.
Donna had been staying with her son ever since her home suffered fire damage in the fall and was being repaired.
Donna Scrivo petitioned a court to hospitalize her son because he was paranoid and psychotic
A police search of the condo and Donna's SUV turned up blood stains belonging to Ramsay. There was also sign of bleach being used in the condo.
Police said they had contact with the mother and the son in the past over domestic problems.
Donna Scrivo had been appointed her son's guardian in May 2013 when he became despondent following his father Daniel's terminal illness.
On May 16, 2013, the day after his father died, Donna Scrivo petitioned the court to hospitalize her son, and Ramsay consented.
Court documents obtained by the Detroit Free Press reveal that Ramsay's anger 'had escalated to unsafe levels' and that he 'threatened to commit suicide'.
He was also on probation for assault and his mother said he had been getting into a lot of fights lately because of 'poor judgement'.
She said he suffered from paranoia and depression and had been refusing to take his medications because he felt he didn't need it.
Ramsay had even threatened a family friend he believed poisoned him.
The court agreed that Ramsay was a danger to himself and placed him in his mother's care in May.
The following month, Ramsay told the court he planned to petition to end the guardianship in six months and would cooperate with treatment, take his medication and follow his mother's rules.
But that changed in September when he had a tooth crown removed because he thought someone had planted it there as a speaker.
Following that incident, Doctors diagnosed him with psychosis and said he was paranoid.
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