Stratford man gets 30 years for killing his mother

mother more than two dozen times and then told police he had found a “body,” was sentenced Wednesday to 30 years in prison.

“This is a tragic case, tragic for the family, tragic for the victim,” Superior Court Judge Tracy Lee Dayton said in sentencing 38-year-old Thomas Walker for murder. Walker pleaded guilty to murder earlier this year.

Police said Walker was on probation for stabbing a cousin when he killed his mother in her Baird Street home on Sept. 18, 2020.

Dressed in a bright orange prison jumpsuit, Walker stared down at the small table in front of him as he was sentenced by the judge. He told the judge he had nothing to say.

“To call this incident tragic would be an understatement,” Senior Assistant State’s Attorney Edward

Lee Miller told the judge. “He is a danger to society.”

Walker’s lawyer, Assistant Public Defender Nicole Feinberg, told the judge “There are mental health issues at play here. My client didn’t wake up that day thinking ‘This is what I am going to do.’ ”

Shortly after 5:30 a.m. Sept. 18, 2020, police said, Walker went into the Stratford Police Department and told officers he wanted to “report a body.”

One of the officers noted that Walker had scratches on the right side of his face and what looked like blood on his sneakers, police said.

Officers were dispatched to Walker’s home on Baird Street. Police said they found Walker’s mother, Pamela Walker, sitting on the floor next to her bed with multiple stab wounds to her neck and chest.

In an interview with detectives, Walker told them he had been home with his mother when the two of them got into what he called an “altercation,” police said. He was vague on the nature of the altercation and didn’t recall what happened next, police said.

Police said Walker recalled changing his clothes and walking to the Police Department.

“We informed Thomas that his mother was found dead in his home. He showed no emotion,” police said.

Police said Walker’s sister told them he had a history of mental illness and that she had contacted his probation officer in an effort to get hi mm ental health treatment, police said.

In 2019, police said, Walker had gone to a cousin’s home in Bridgeport with a large knife, allegedly forced his way into the cousin’s home and stabbed the victim several times.

In December 2019, Walker pleaded guilty to second-degree assault and was sentenced to six months in prison followed by three years of probation.