Amelia DiStasio

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Amelia DiStasio Full Name: Amelia DiStasio Origin: Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States Goals: Kill her son (successful) Crimes: Murder Familicide Child abuse Animal cruelty Type of Villain: Mentally Ill Murderer

Amelia DiStasio is an American woman who, on September 28, 2014, brutally murdered her 4-year old autistic son, Antonio, at their home in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Biography

Amelia and Antonio had moved in two months prior. A neighbour said Amelia "wasn't friendly and kept to herself." She noted that on September 27th, one day before Antonio died, she heard Antonio say "Please, Mommy. Stop! I won't do it again." She said she heard Amelia yell "Shut up." On the morning Antonio died, she said she heard "a banging noise" coming from Amelia's apartment unit. Another witness saw a "frazzled" DiStasio jump out the window and run away on the day of the murder.

According to a criminal complaint, around 7:30 a.m. on September 28th, the Milwaukee Fire Department was dispatched to the home at 17th and Grant for a report of "smoke." Smoke was observed coming from Apartment #2 and firefighters forced entry into the home. Smoke was observed coming from the stove, and a pile of clothing in the bathroom (in the bathtub) was noted to be smoking.

Firefighters found a lifeless child with his hands bound behind his back with several belts. The complaint says there was a garbage bag over his head. "The majority of his body was burned," the complaint says. Investigators learned the victim's body had been set on fire with the use of an unknown accelerant. A pet guinea pig was found drowned in its cage next to the tub, the complaint says. A bottle of canola cooking oil was located on the bathroom sink.

The complaint indicates the apartment's smoke detector had been removed and placed in water.

Amelia DiStasio was arrested later on September 28th after an officer spotted her walking along W. Wisconsin Avenue. In her purse, investigators found a handwritten note with a woman's name and telephone number on it. Police soon arrived, and learned the victim was four-year-old Antonio. Amelia was not home when first responders arrived.

Investigators called that number, and spoke with a man and his wife. They indicated that on September 28th, they saw Amelia Di Stasio while they were catching a bus from Waukesha that had arrived at 35th and Wisconsin. They said she was crying, and they asked her what was wrong. They said she 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 said his wife was Christian and she might be able to talk with her, so he offered the note with her number on it.

The complaint indicates a search of Amelia Di Stasio's phone revealed searches for "how do canabals (sic) die" and "how to kill a canabal (sic)" from September 28th. The cell phone search also revealed a message board dedicated to an online game billed as a "horror survival game" in which players fight cannibals. The message board "detailed the ways to kill cannibals within the game," and recommended the first way was to "kill it with fire." Additionally, it discussed how in the game, cannibals "like to bathe in oil."

Days after she'd been arrested, DiStasio, who was 23 at the time of the murder, 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 her life.

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.

There was 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.