Florida deputies are investigating the apparent murder of a 76-year-old woman whose grandson reportedly confessed to the crime.
The Indian River County Sheriff’s Office responded to a welfare check on Monday and found Patricia Dibella dead insider her apartment, WPBF reported. Court records show that Dibella’s son-in-law called 911 and told them his son, Nicholas Ivey, had called and told him his grandmother was dead.
Deputies found Ivey outside when they arrived, and he reportedly told them Dibella was dead inside. The deputies found the elderly woman dead in her bed.
Ivey was taken into custody, and he reportedly admitted “spontaneously” that he killed his grandmother on Sunday, claiming that she poked him in the back with a kitchen knife so he snapped her neck and then punched and stomped on her head while she was on the floor. Then he took her body from the kitchen floor and put her on the bed.
Then, he told police, he cleaned up the crime scene and put the knife he said he grandmother had into a drawer.
He also washed the sweatshirt he was wearing, because it was covered in blood, and put it back on.
Then, he called his father, who didn’t answer the phone. He told detectives he didn’t call 911 because he wanted to talk it over with his father first.
Ivey has been booked into the Indian River County Jail on charges of grand theft auto, criminal use of personal identification, unlawful possession of stolen credit cards, and fraudulent use of credit cards but not anything related to Dibella’s death.
When asked why, a sheriff’s office spokesperson responded that the charges “reflect the facts known at the time of arrest.”
“Formal murder charges are determined and filed as soon as certain evidence is processed,” the spokesperson said. “That process is still ongoing, but we expect charges consistent with murder.”
Murder charges have not been filed as of Friday, jail records show, and Ivey remains behind bars with $400,000 in bonds.
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[Featured image: Nicholas Ivey/Indian River County Sheriff’s Office]