The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office said a man walked into their office Monday night and told them he killed his mother.
Clearwater police later went to his house in the 1700 block of El Trinidad Drive East where they found the woman’s body in the backyard.
Police said she suffered from severe upper body trauma.
Throughout the night Monday, Clearwater police could be seen going from door to door, questioning neighbors, while the man’s house was cordoned off with crime scene tape.
At around 10 Monday night, investigators were waiting to execute a search warrant so they could get inside to look for evidence.
Police say the man’s 7-year-old daughter was inside the house when the killing took place.
Neighbors we spoke with were in shock and disbelief and tried to figure out what led up to the murder.
Neighbors also said the suspect is known around the neighborhood for causing trouble and knew something would happen, they said, just something not to this extent.
Neighbors said that even though they’re mourning the loss of life, they can take comfort in the fact that the child is OK.
“After this occurred, he went to the Sheriff’s Office and dropped her off at somebody else’s house while he then went to the Sheriff’s office to turn himself in,” said Rob Shaw, a spokesperson for the Clearwater Police Department.
“It’s scary,” said Gerald Frey, a neighbor whose lived in the neighborhood for 20 years. “It’s a scary thing and you know, the family, you never want to wish that on anybody. It’s a bad thing. So like I said, it’s a quiet neighborhood and we’re not used to having all this commotion around here so it’s scary.”
As of last check, the suspect was being questioned at the Clearwater Police Department.
Neighbors tell us the child’s mother lives out of state.
Police are not releasing the names of the mother or the son pending notification of next of kin.