Son accused of stabbing mom to death says Satan did it

A man claiming to be possessed by Satan stabbed his 84-year-old mother to death in the home they shared on Chicago’s Northwest Side.

Joseph Nerone, 54, was splattered with blood when he was arrested Friday. He was later charged with the murder of his mother, Elaine Nerone.

On Sunday, Nerone’s attorney from the public defender’s office said he has mental health problems, and Cook County Judge James Brown ordered him sent initially to the jail’s hospital for a psychological examination. Brown ordered that Nerone be held without bail.
Assistant State’s Attorney Terry Clancy said this was not the first time Nerone has attributed alleged violent behavior to a spiritual being.
He was convicted of battery in April 2011 after punching and scratching a neighbor while declaring, “I’m God, and it’s your time,” . He was declared unfit for trial and then ruled fit before he was sentenced to 18 months of court supervision contingent on good behavior, according to court records and prosecutors.
His mother’s body was discovered in the home in the Dunning neighborhood Friday morning after a woman called police to say she couldn’t contact Nerone to pick him up for a meeting with his probation officer. Emergency crews arrived and entered to find Elaine Nerone on the bathroom floor, dead of multiple stab wounds to the head and back.
Her son was bloody and marked by scrapes and cuts consistent with a struggle, prosecutors said, and police found several bloody knives in the home in the 3800 block of North Normandy Avenue.
Under questioning by detectives, Nerone said Satan had killed his mother and that the devil was inside him