Oct. 19, 2018
Milwaukee Circuit Judge Jeffrey Wagner decided the defense had met its burden in the insanity defense, that Distasio suffered from a mental disease that left her without "substantial capacity" to appreciate the wrongfulness of her actions.
He committed Distasio to the Department of Health Services for life, for secure mental health treatment, and ordered that she be forced to take medications because she is not competent to refuse it.
Days after she'd been arrested, Amelia Distasio, 24, told a psychologist that she believed her son was not only a cannibal, but a vampire, and that his pet guinea pig, Princess, was also a threat to Distasio's life.
Psychologist Deborah Collins recounted that during an interview, Distasio flatly described many of the events of that day, like her sense that her son was "coming on to her" sexually, and that his voice had changed to that of a man, and that because he was obedient and loved her, he let her bind him with belts.
But when Distasio mentioned how smoke from her burning son filled the room, she broke into almost uncontrollable laughter. Antonio Distasio had been bound with belts, a plastic bag over his head, and doused in oil before being set ablaze in the south side apartment he shared with his mother. She later told Collins that when smoke began filling the room, she left via a window after pushing out the air conditioner.
Collins testified Distasio was not simply an overwhelmed young mother who decided to kill her child, Collins said. She was psychotic and delusional.
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