A psychologist testified that Amelia Di Stasio is mentally ill and suffering from illness at the time of her son’s death. The psychologist said that Di Stasio told her she believed her son was a cannibal or vampire and was going to kill her. Amelia will spend the rest of her life in a mental institution.
23-Year-old mother, Amelia Di Stasio was arrested for killing her 4-year-old son in September 2017 by binding him with belts and setting him on fire.
Fox 6 reported that Amelia Di Stasio is facing charges for first-degree murder after she set her 4-year-old son, Antonio, on fire.
A witness who lived in the same apartment building as Amelia Di Stasio said that “she wasn’t friendly and kept to herself.”
Police were first notified when a neighbor called emergency service after she noticed smoke coming from Amelia Di Stasio’s apartment on September 28th. When the firefighters arrived, they noted that the smoke was coming from the stove inside, and what they believed to be a burning pile of clothing in the bathtub of the apartment.
The firefighters found a lifeless child with his hands bound behind his back with several belts. According to the autopsy report, Antonio had, “significant charring” to his skin.
The complaint says there was a garbage bag over his head, and “the major of his body was burned.”
Investigators soon learned that an unknown accelerant was used to set Antonio’s body on fire. In addition to the boy, a pet guinea pig was found drowned in its cage next to the tub. The complaint also indicated that the apartment’s smoke detector had been removed and placed in water.
A witness from the same apartment building told the investigators that Amelia and her 4-year-old son, Antonio had moved in two months prior on September 27th. A day before Antonio died, the witness heard Antonio say “Please, Mommy. Stop! I won’t do it again.” To which she heard Amelia shouting “Shut Up.”
The witness also told the investigators that on the day Antonio died she heard “a banging noise,” coming from their apartment.
An autopsy revealed that not one or two but seven belts were used to secure Antonio Di Stasio’s hands and arms to his sides and a plastic bag was placed over his head; pulled tight and knotted at the back of his head.
In addition to that, the autopsy also revealed that significant charring to his skin and thermal injuries “to the majority of his body.” Antonio’s death was ruled a homicide.
Another witness told investigators that she saw a woman jump from the windowsill of the apartment building on September 28, the woman looked “frazzled,” according to the complaint.
Amelia was arrested later walking along at W. Wisconsin Avenue. A handwritten note with a woman’s name and telephone number was found in her hands.
Investigators called the numbers to find out whom they belong to, they spoke with a man and his wife. They told that on September 28, they saw Amelia while they were catching a bus. They told that she was crying and asked whether they knew a pastor because she needed to talk with somebody and told them “I did something really bad,” and she had “never did nothing like that before.”
The man told her that her wife was Chrisitan, and she might be able to talk with her, so he gave the note with his wife’s number on it.
After the investigators searched Amelia’s phone, it revealed searches for “how to canabals(sic) die” and “how to kill a canabal(sic)” from Sept. 28.
An additional search also revealed a message board dedicated to an online game billed as a “horror survival game.” That message board also had “detailed the ways to kill cannibals within the game,” and recommended the first way was to “kill it with fire.”
A psychologist testified that Amelia Di Stasio is mentally ill and was suffering from illness at the time of her son’s death. The psychologist said that Di Stasio told her she believed her son was a cannibal or vampire and was going to kill her. Amelia will spend the rest of her life in a mental institution.
