Mother 'killed and dismembered her mentally-ill son, 32 before scattering his remains along back roads'

Authorities believe a Michigan mother murdered her mentally ill son and dismembered his body, dumping his remains in black plastic bags along local roads.



Registered nurse Donna Scrivo, 60, was arraigned Monday in Macomb County court and charged with mutilating and illegally removing her 32-year-old son Ramsay's corpse. The first charge is a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison, while the second charge is a misdemeanor with a one-year sentence.



Charges for murder have not yet been filed, but police are still actively investigating Ramsay's death.

Mother killer? Donna Scrivo (left) has been charged with mutilating and illegally removing the corpse of Ramsay Scrivo (right), her 32-year-old son. Prosecutors have not yet charged the 60-year-old with murder as police continue to investigate the son's death

Serious charges: Following two previous charges, Donna Scrivo had now been charged with premeditated murder

'These charges that were brought are not the end of the case. We are still working diligently on a murder investigation at this time,' St Clair Interim Police Chief Todd Woodcox said in a news conference. 'We plan to bring more charges later. We charged what we could.'



The remains of Ramsay Scrivo were discovered around 3pm on January 30 after a resident in China Township reported seeing bags on the side of the road.



Donna had reported her son missing three days before on January 27. At the time, she told police that her son had left home the previous day and never came back.



Authorities eventually found bags containing Ramsay's body dropped in four locations around China and St Clair Townships - about 50 miles northeast of Detroit.



Dumped: Ramsay's remains were found in black bags dropped off in four locations around China and St Clair townships in Michigan

Some of his remains were not in bags, and one bag contained clothes and charred paperwork.



Police are still searching for one more limb.



Surveillance footage shows that mother Donna was in the area around the time the bags were reported.



Another witness reported seeing the woman carrying black plastic bags out of the condo in St Clair Shores she shared with her son.



Shocking: Neighbors were horrified to hear that Donna was charged for mutilating her son's body

Donna had been staying with her son ever since her home suffered fire damage in the fall and was being repaired.



A police search of the condo and Donna's SUV turned up blood stains belonging to Ramsay. There was also signs of bleach being used in the condo. Police searched Donna's home as well.



Police said they had contact with the mother and the son in the past over family trouble.



But news of Ramsay's death, and interest in Donna as the perpetrator, came as a shock to Doris Odren - Donna's next door neighbor of 18 years.



'I knew that she loved Ramsey a lot; she really did. She doted on him, you know, like all mothers do with their sons,' Mrs Odren told CBS Detroit. 'I just … can’t get my head around that. I can’t see her … I know her.'

Her husband Thomas Odren was just as surprised.



'It just seems so out of character,' Mr Odren told the Lansing State Journal. 'That’s what makes this so hard to process. She had such a good relationship with Ramsay. I would never expect anyone to (dismember their child).'



'We’re anxious to figure out what happened.'



Donna was officially arrested on January 31. Ramsay's cause of death has not yet been released, as the medical examiner awaits a toxicology report.



Ramsay Scrivo graduated from De La Salle Collegiate High School in 1999 and went on to earn his accounting degree from Wayne State University.



He worked as an accountant for some time after graduation but quit when a surpervisor criticized his work.



Most recently, he was working as an All State Insurance agent in Roseville.



Guardian: Ramsay Scrivo (far right) had been under his mother's protection since last May, following his father's death

Since May, Donna Scrivo had been her son's guardian when he became despondent following his father Daniel's terminal illness.



On May 16, the day after his father died, Donna petitioned the court to hospitalize her son, and Ramsay consented.



Court documents obtained by the Detroit Free Press reveal that Ramsay's anger 'had escalated to unsafe levels' and that he 'threatened to commit suicide'.



He was also on probation for assault and his mother said he had been getting into a lot of fights lately because of 'poor judgement'.



She said he suffered from paranoia and depression and had been refusing to take his medications because he felt he didn't need it.



Ramsay had even threatened a family friend he believed poisoned him.



Looking: Donna Scrivo scanned the court room today, but it didn't appear as though any family members turned up to support her. She is currently being held on $100,000 bond and due back in court on February 11



The court agreed that Ramsay was a danger to himself and placed him in his mother's care in May.



The following month, Ramsay told the court he planned to petition to end the guardianship in six months and would cooperate with treatment, take his medication and follow his mother's rules.



But that changed in September when he had a tooth crown removed because he thought someone had planted it there as a speaker.



Following that incident, Doctors diagnosed him with psychosis and said he was paranoid.



In court on Monday, Donna scanned the room as if she was looking for someone - though none of her family seemed to have attended.

