Milwaukee mother who burned son to death found insane
Disturbing crime details revealed during trial
Earlier in the day that she burned her 4-year-old son alive, Amelia Distasio Googled “how to kill a cannibal.” The advice, given in the context of a video gamers’ discussion, described using fire and oil to do the job.
Days after she’d been arrested, Distasio, 24, told a psychologist that she believed her son was not only a cannibal, but a vampire, and that his pet guinea pig, Princess, was also a threat to Distasio’s life.
The disturbing details of an already disturbing crime were revealed Friday during a trial over whether Distasio should go to prison or a state mental hospital.
Last week, she pleaded guilty to firstdegree intentional homicide.
Friday’s hearing was to decide her plea of not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect.
While her case has been pending, Distasio has twice been hospitalized for attempts to make her legally competent to proceed, to understand the charges against her and aid in her own defense.
A forensic mental health expert testified Friday that in her opinion Distasio clearly met the standard to be found not legally responsible because she suffered from a mental disease or defect at the time she killed her son, and that it prevented her from understanding that what she was doing was wrong, or from conforming her behavior to the law.
Psychologist Deborah Collins, director of the Wisconsin Forensics Unit, testified Distasio had a long history of mental health treatment during adolescence, but that when she learned she was pregnant, she stopped taking anti-psychotic medications.
She had been “off the grid” without any kind of treatment for years leading up to the Sept. 28, 2017, incident.
Collins recounted that during an interview, Distasio flatly described many of the events of that day, like her sense that her son was “coming on to her” sexually, and that his voice had changed to that of a man, and that because he was obedient and loved her, he let her bind him with belts.
But when Distasio mentioned how smoke from her burning son filled the room, she broke into almost
uncontrollable laughter.
Antonio Distasio had been bound with belts, a plastic bag over his head, and doused in oil before being set ablaze in the south side apartment he shared with his mother.
She later told Collins that when smoke began filling the room, she left via a window after pushing out the air conditioner.
Collins testified about her meetings with Distasio.
She at times seemed to still believe her son was alive and had been reported as catatonic in jail.
Distasio was not simply an overwhelmed young mother who decided to kill her child, Collins said. She was psychotic and delusional.
Assistant District Attorney Grant Huebner emphasized some points that suggested Distasio could tell right from wrong — she changed her clothes before leaving, ran because she expected police to come, and told a stranger on a bus she’d done something “really bad,” and needed to talk with a pastor.
Collins said those examples gave her pause, but not enough to sway her opinion that Distasio lacked substantial capacity to tell right from wrong.
Forensic psychiatrist Robert Rawski also concluded Distasio suffered from paranoid delusions and that her condition prevented her from understanding her actions were wrong, and from comporting her actions to the law.
There is no jury for Distasio’s phase-two trial.
Milwaukee Circuit Judge Jeffrey Wagner decided the defense had met its burden in the insanity defense, that Distasio suffered from a mental disease that left her without “substantial capacity” to appreciate the wrongfulness of her actions.
He committed Distasio to the Department of Health Services for life, for secure mental health treatment, and ordered that she be forced to take medications because she is not competent to refuse it.