Man hammers wife’s skull with sleeping son in room

As their son slept in the same bedroom, Marc Alan Berkowitz crushed Anastisiya Savitskaya’s skull with a hammer then ran into his mother’s bedroom to confess, Plantation police said.

Barbara Waterson called 911 but Berkowitz, 42, took the phone from her to tell the police dispatcher, “I killed my wife. I didn’t use a knife. I used a hammer to kill her,” according to the arrest report filed in the case.

The 911 call was made about 4 a.m. Thursday, police said.

Officers arrived to find Berkowitz outside his mother’s home in the 8800 block of Cleary Boulevard where he told them again, “I killed my wife,” the report stated.

Berkowitz, Savitskaya, 33, and their 7-year-old son had moved into Waterson’s home about one year ago. During police questioning, she described the couple’s relationship as “toxic” and like “living in a war zone,” investigators said.

After Berkowitz woke her up to confess, Waterson called 911, grabbed her grandson, put him in the bathroom and closed the door to protect him from the bloody scene, the report stated.

Police also interviewed the young boy who told them he woke up to find his father trying to wake his mother. The child said his mother sounded like she was “snoring” had a “boo boo” on her head and blood in her hair, according to the police report.

The child said he saw his father drag his mother out of the bedroom and into the living room but “mommy wouldn’t wake up,” the report stated.

After his arrest, Berkowitz told detectives he was mad that Savitskaya was planning to divorce him and break up his family and that he would “rather have her dead than leave me,” police said.

Berkowitz told detectives he believed he found text messages between her and another man and said, “If I can’t have her no one can,” police said.

He explained he used a hammer because he worked in construction and knew it would break her cranium. He said he didn’t use a knife because he hates them and knew she would scream if he stabbed her, investigators said.

Berkowitz didn’t know how many times he hit her head but there was blood all over the bed sheets. He told their son to turn over because he did not want the boy to see what he had done to his mother, the police report said.

Then, Berkowitz told detectives Savitskaya was still making noises so he dragged her out of the bedroom by her arms and strangled her with a cord to “put her out of her misery,” police said.

He said he told his mother when he knew Savitskaya was dead, detectives said.

Berkowitz is charged with premeditated firstdegree murder and was being held without bond in the Broward County Jail, records showed.