Florida authorities say a Clearwater man spent the past year planning to murder his mom before luring her to his apartment on Saturday evening with the sole purpose of taking her life.
According to the Clearwater Police Department, officers responded to the Palms at Countryside Apartments around 5 p.m. after residents heard a woman screaming for help in a nearby apartment. The neighbors also reported hearing banging before the yelling stopped.
Upon arrival, responding officers found the deceased body of 53-year-old Mary Beth Lopez inside the residence.
The victim’s son, 24-year-old Logan Lopez, told responding officers and homicide detectives that he murdered her. Logan hit his mom, Mary Beth Lopez, with a hammer and then stabbed her multiple times, according to CPD.
Logan Lopez told investigators that he had coaxed his mother to the apartment on Saturday to ‘put an end to her’. Lopez told detectives he had been plotting his mother’s death for a year because she had ‘enslaved’ him.
Though the Clearwater Police Department says Logan Lopez does not have a criminal history with the agency, he has been Baker Acted in the past.
Logan Lopez has been charged with first-degree murder.
