TOLEDO, OHIO -- “First thing I'm going to ask him is did he do it,” said DyAnn Newble, the mother of accused killer Lawrence Fitzpatrick James.
Newble hasn't spoken to her son since police arrested him Sunday, but she has a lot of questions after getting woken up Sunday night to several police officers in her house and her son in handcuffs.
“They [police] searched our house, they took items out of our house, they took items out of our garbage,” said Newble in an exclusive NBC 24 interview.
Even though James, 24, admitted to police later that he stabbed University of Toledo student Casey Bucher, 22, on the corner of Bancroft and Westwood, Newble says her son is a good kid and suggests it might not be that clear cut.
She claims James, who was living with her after getting out of prison in June, didn't have access to his Schizophrenia and Bi-polar medication, and might have been mentally unfit to answer investigators questions.
“I just want the media to know that my son is not as bad as they are putting him on to be. He was incapable of answering any questions, they didn't come get me, and he had to be hearing voices if he did commit the crime,” said Newble.
James and his family could still have a chance to present their case if it goes to trial. His initial court appearance is scheduled for Monday, July 26.
Meanwhile, the memorial for Bucher that lies at the scene of the crime keeps getting more elaborate with flowers and fond messages for the Anthony Wayne High School graduate whose life was cut way too short.