Inset: Steven James Uricchio (Ridgefield Police Department). Background: The house where Uricchio allegedly killed and mutilated his father (Google Maps).
A Connecticut man admitted that he murdered his octogenarian father earlier this month in particularly disturbing fashion, authorities say.
Steven James Uricchio, 31, stands accused of one count of murder as a class A felony, according to jail records. Capital murder in the Nutmeg State is reserved for a rare, limited series of offenses. In this case, the defendant faces a sentence of 25 to 60 years behind bars.
Police say the defendant brutally killed his father over the weekend during a domestic violence incident — and then called 911 to confess.
At around 1 a.m. on Saturday, police arrived at 27 Powderhorn Drive in Ridgefield, a medium-sized town located in the foothills of the Berkshire Mountains, near the border with New York State.
Inside the house, officers found Marc Uricchio, 83, and paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene, police said.
An initial press release described the crime scene in a relatively sanitized fashion as the site of a “domestic incident” and said officers “determined that an elderly male was deceased inside the residence,” according to Ridgefield Police Department spokesperson Jeff Raines.
The defendant appeared in court on Monday where the police report divulged far more gruesome details about the slaying.
“Uricchio stated, ‘I murdered him.’ Uricchio then paused and stated, ‘really, really badly,’” according to an arraignment report and affidavit obtained by regional cable news network News 12 Connecticut.
Arriving officers found the defendant outside the house with his hands already in the air, according to a police report obtained by The Hour, a newspaper based in Norwalk. Down on the pavement, officers realized the man was sweating nonstop and appeared to have blood all over his hands. Then, he directed police to where his father was.
Drops of blood allegedly led the way.
The elder Uricchio was found in his upstairs bedroom, police said. The man’s body was lying on the ground and facing the doorway.
Blood was also on both sides of the wall, police said. A bloody fish filleting knife was at the top of the stairs outside the bedroom door.
The reasons for the telltale carmine stains soon became obvious.
“The victim’s face, lower torso/abdomen, and groin were mutilated,” police wrote. “What appeared to be internal organs from the above-mentioned areas were on the outside of the body.”
The younger Uricchio was arrested and charged without incident.
During his arraignment, he declined to enter a plea, according to The Hour. The defendant had to be carried inside the courtroom, News 12 Connecticut reports. And, then, once seated next to his attorney, he slumped forward over the defense table and aimed to stay there, according to The News-Times a newspaper out of Danbury.
“Mr. Uricchio, [I] ask you to please stand up. Mr. Uricchio please stand up,” Superior Court Judge Thomas Saadi said.
Both the prosecution and the defense asked for a competency evaluation during the Monday proceeding.
“There is a significant mental health history here, about which I’ll provide additional information to the state,” defense attorney William Dow told the court.
The judge granted those requests.
Police allege the defendant was taken to a hospital over the weekend for stomach-related problems and interviewed by doctors. He allegedly said he was prescribed medication but had not taken his pills “in a month or two” and admitted to occasionally using marijuana.
Later, the alleged killer’s lawyer took a philosophical route.
“This is a tragedy of Shakespearean dimensions,” Dow told News 12 Connecticut after the hearing. “It has devastated the family as well as my client.”
Steven Uricchio is slated to appear back in court on Sept. 4.
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