A man beheaded his mother and then jumped in front of a train, killing himself, just as authorities confronted him.
Patricia Ward was found in front of an apartment building in Farmingdale, N.Y., located on Long Island. Within 20 minutes, police found a traveler they believed to be the son of the deceased woman in a local railway station. As they came close to the suspect near the Clinton Street crossing, he jumped in front of a Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) train, headed for Ronkonkoma.
The female victim, discovered at 7:55 p.m. EDT, was in her 60s, according to authorities. Ward's body was dressed in just a bra and panties, and found on one side of the street, while her head was found on the other side.
Ward was a language arts professor at Farmingdale State College. Patrick Calabria, vice president of institutional advancement at the school, identified the victim.
The grisly events caused authorities to shut down the Ronkonkoma Branch of the Long Island Rail Road. In addition, police in Nassau County closed off access to several blocks, centered on Secatogue Avenue, where the first body was recovered.
After the man in the railway station was killed around 8:15 p.m. EDT, passengers on that train were forced to stay on the vehicle for two hours, waiting for rescue.
Taxi drivers who pick passengers up from the train station were witness to the sight of the headless body laying in the street. At least one of the drivers will be seeking therapy to treat the effects of the vision.
"The body's feet were at the curb, the shoulders were at the middle of the street. The head was across the street... I thought it was Halloween hoax. There was no big splatter of blood. It looked staged," Jack Imperial, a passenger in one of the taxis, said. The 41-year-old resident of Briarwood, Queens, told the press he never expected to see such a scene in the neighborhood where the killing occurred.
Police are investigating whether Ward was murdered inside the apartment building, and then taken outside, or if the death took place on the street. Nick Gordon, a neighbor who lived across the hallway from Ward, told reporters a trail of blood was found inside the building.
"When I came out the door, I saw the blood on the tile. It was all over, as if someone could've been pulling a body. You could see the smears going down the stairs," Gordon told the New York Daily News.
Ward reportedly moved to the apartment building a few months ago, and lived with a small dog.
