The 18-year-old man that admitted to murdering his mother on her birthday made his first appearance in court on Wednesday.

Hillsborough County Circuit Judge Margaret Taylor set a pre-trial hearing for Joshua Carmona, who was arrested early Tuesday morning in the death of his mother, 39-year-old Tahirih (Tara) Lua D'Angelo. 

  • Joshua Carmona, 18, appeared in court Wednesday
  • Carmona facing first-degree murder charges in death of his mother Tara D'Angelo
  • Investigators say despite some family issues, nothing suggested Carmona could be capable of killing his mother
  • Previous stories on this case

D'Angelo was found dead earlier in the day inside her Hawthorne Trace Lane home.

Police said Carmona admitted to striking his mother in the head with an Easton aluminum baseball bat, knocking her unconscious. He then stabbed her in the back of the neck with a large butcher knife, according to the affidavit. 

Carmona is facing first-degree murder charges. 

Carmona faced Judge Taylor via video conference from the Falkenburg Road Jail wearing a protective suit for his own safety. He showed little emotion, just a brief nod acknowledging his bond hearing set for Monday. 

Investigators said Carmona told them he had planned on killing his mother for some time. There were family issues, according to what police said Carmona told them. However, there weren't any previous issues of domestic violence or incidents that would have suggested Carmona was capable of killing his mother, police said. 

"His motive, we are just gonna keep very  brief with because that's gonna be something for the State Attorney's Office to work with," said Hillsborough County Sheriff's Col. Donna Lusczynski. "He felt that there were some ongoing family issues."

That is all investigators are currently saying about a motive. 

In a conversation with the Tampa Bay Times, Bob D'Angelo, Tara's father-in-law, described Carmona as a top student while in high school and had recently returned home from college in New York after a car theft arrest in Pennsylvania. 

He said his daughter-in-law was trying to help him get his life back on track, even making sure he went to weekly counseling sessions after a suicide threat. 

Despite his past, family members said no one saw this coming. 

The day Tara D'Angelo was killed was her 39th birthday.