He confused his mother with a thief and slaughtered him with a baseball bat | Chronic

Thomas J. Summerwill, a 21-year-old boy living in the suburbs of Chicago, murdered his mother, Mary Summerwill 53, with a bat to confuse him with a thief who entered his house on the night of March 24th.

Kane County attorneys said the boy was acting in self-defense when he was beating his mother, believing that he was a criminal.

Summerwill's lawyer, Liam DixonHe said that his client is "Devastated"and that he had good relations with his mother.

"What the state does to it will pale with what has already happened"Dixon said after a hearing Tuesday in which a county judge had set Summerwill's bail at $ 300,000.

The 21-year-old, who has just completed his third year at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, was released after paying 10% of the bond.

The father of the accused was in the house at the time of the attack. He and his son called 911 that morning to report the woman's serious condition.

They both took her to the hospital where she died shortly thereafter. A coroner determined that cranial injuries were the cause of death.