Autistic boy, 14, ‘found hiding under floorboards with her blood dripping over him’ after he stabbed his mother to death charged as an adult – Docs said Miguel Cano performed well on academic IQ tests
Miguel Cano [left] admitted stabbing his mom, Isabel Cristina Zuluaga [right] to death in September 2015 at their home in Simpsonville, South Carolina
Autistic South Carolina boy, 14, allegedly used a large knife to stab his mother multiple times in the torso before bedtime
Miguel Cano, 14, is accused of stabbing his mother, Isabel Zuluaga, 44, to death in September 2015, at their Simpsonville, SC home
Officials announced Tuesday, that Miguel Cano will be charged as an adult for the killing after he performed well on academic IQ tests and was evaluated by doctors
A contractor who arrived at the home to carry out repair work discovered Zuluaga dead in one of the bedrooms
He found Cano hiding under floorboards with her blood dripping over him
He face 30 years to life if convicted
Miguel Cano, allegedly used a large knife to kill his mother (photo) right before bedtime
A 14-year-old autistic boy who is accused of stabbing his mother to death before being found hiding under floorboards with her blood dripping over him will be charged as an adult for the crime.
The Greenville County Sheriff’s Office said that Miguel Cano confessed to stabbing his mother, Isabel Cristina Zuluaga, 44, to death in September 2015 at their home in Simpsonville, South Carolina, WHNS reported.
Cano, who was aged 13 at the time of the incident, allegedly used a large knife to kill his mother right before bedtime.
A contractor discovered the body after he had arrived at the house to do some work in the crawlspace area. After getting no answer at the door, the contractor said he entered the crawlspace and found the boy hiding under the house.
He asked the teen to leave so he could get to work, then noticed what appeared to be blood dripping through the floorboards of the home.
Entering the home, the contractor found Zuluaga who had been stabbed to death in a bedroom and immediately called 911.
Cristina Zuluaga suffered multiple stab wounds to her torso
The contractor then went inside the home and found the mother dead in a bedroom, according to the sheriff’s office
The Greenville County Sheriff’s Office said that Cano, who was a student at Bryson Middle School, was found hours after the discovery of his mother’s dead body walking along a road alone.
Once Cano was in custody, he confessed to killing his mother, who the coroner said suffered multiple stab wounds to her torso.
The contractor went inside the home and found Zuluaga dead in a bedroom, all according to the sheriff’s office.
At the time of his confession, Greenville County sheriff Steve Loftis said: ‘The fact that there was no remorse shown that we could see, it’s just an extremely unusual incident.
Police activity at the crime scene. A contractor who entered the property to carry out repair work first discovered Cano hiding in a crawlspace under the house with blood dripping through the floorboards above him, he then called police
‘I don’t have a good grasp of what he was thinking, why he did it and so forth. That would be pure speculation at this point.’
On Tuesday, the Solicitor’s Office announced that Cano will be charged as an adult for the killing.
During a court hearing last year, teachers testified that the boy was a strong student.
But a doctor from the Department of Juvenile Justice said Cano performed well on academic IQ tests, but he scored poorly on emotional IQ tests, citing that family ‘could never read him,’ WHNS reported.
The contractor found the Cano’s mother [photo] dead in a bedroom while the teen fled the home and was arrested some distance from the home
On Tuesday, officials announced that Cano will be charged as an adult for the crime
Solicitor Walt Wilkins said that severity of the crime was a major factor for the case to be transferred to General Sessions Court, even though in earlier hearings medical doctors said that the teen who was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder and might have been struggling to handle the stress sensory overload, which is often a struggle for children who have the disorder.
In a court hearing in 2016, teachers testified Cano was strong student.
A doctor with the Department of Juvenile Justice, Dr. Sandra McCloy testified at the hearing tha Cano performed well on academic IQ tests, but scored poorly on emotional IQ tests, saying family “could never read him.” She also stated that the then 13-year-old Cano’s Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), went undiagnosed for some time due to the teen’s intelligence.
She said the teen had no friends ever come to his house and that the family ‘could never read him,’ they thought he was ‘odd’. He rarely went outside and had depression.
Zuluaga had immigrated to the United States from Colombia several years earlier, the teen’s father did not live with them.
Cristina Zuluaga had immigrated to the United States from Colombia several years earlier, and was raising her son alone
The teen told his doctor that he thought about suicide the day his mother was fatally stabbed. He also said he felt horrible about the incident and that he would miss ‘everything’.
A second doctor, Dr. Kimberly Hills, testified at the hearing and said she agreed with the ASD diagnosis. She said a statement from the teen saying he “wanted to be free” suggest to her he couldn’t handle the stress of demands and sensory overload from autism, a common struggle for children with autism.
Solicitor Walt Wilkins said the severity of the crime was a factor in transferring the case to General Sessions Court, while announcing Tuesday that a 14-year-old murder suspect will be charged as an adult.
Had he been tried as a juvenile, Cano would have been facing a maximum sentence for a murder conviction would be imprisonment until age 21.
Since he is being transferred to General Sessions, he faces 30 years to live in prison if convicted.
Authorities have not released a motive for the killing.
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