A Florida man is accused of bludgeoning his wife with a hammer in front of their 7-year-old son before strangling her with a cord.
According to the Sun Sentinel, Marc Alan Berkowitz, 42, told detectives that he killed Anastasiya Savitskaya, 33, early Thursday because he would “rather have her dead than leave me.”
Berkowitz claimed he found texts between his wife and another man. Berkowitz then allegedly admitted to using a hammer to crush her skull as she slept with their son—who he instructed to turn over because he didn’t want him to witness the carnage.
A police report obtained by the Sentinel stated that the 7-year-old recalled waking up to find his father trying to wake his mother. The little boy reportedly told police that Savitskaya was “snoring” and had a “boo boo” on her head and blood in her hair. He also recounted seeing Berkowitz drag his mother’s lifeless body out the bedroom and into the living room, the report said.
Police said it was then Berkowitz strangled his gravely injured wife to “put her out of her misery.”
While Berkowitz’s mother, Barbara Waterson, called 911, Berkowitz reportedly took the phone and admitted to killing his wife. Moments earlier, Berkowitz woke Waterson up to confess—which prompted Waterson to grab her grandson and put him in the bathroom to shield him from the grisly scene, according to the newspaper.
Documents indicated that the family of three moved into Waterson’s mother’s home a year earlier for unknown reasons; Waterson described the couple as being “toxic” and compared the arrangement to “living in a war zone.”
Berkowitz faces a first-degree premeditated murder charges. He’s being held behind bars bond.
The Florida man’s mother told WPLG that Berkowitz was recently diagnosed with bipolar disorder, which might’ve played a role in Thursday’s slaying.
“I think he snapped because she [Savitskaya] was completely letting him know, ‘I want nothing to do with you.'”
[Featured Image: Marc Alan Berkowitz/Broward County jail; Anastasiya Savitskaya/Facebook]