A 17-year-old boy in North Carolina is facing a first-degree murder charge as an adult after authorities say he fatally stabbed his mother and concealed her body inside a recycling bin in their home’s garage.
Police arrested Isaac Tracy on Tuesday after responding to an urgent welfare check at the residence he shared with his mother, 49-year-old Katherine Svaldi. According to a probable cause affidavit reviewed by Law&Crime, Tracy contacted one of his grandparents earlier that evening and said that “he killed his mother”, adding that her body was in the garage.
Shortly after that call, investigators say Tracy dialed 911 himself, telling dispatchers that he “wanted to get himself arrested because he killed his mom.”
Officers arrived at the home shortly after 7 p.m. and discovered Svaldi’s body partially protruding from a recycling bin in the garage. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Tracy was taken into custody after police found him inside the home with blood on his body and what were described as “self-inflicted injuries.” Investigators also recovered a handwritten note from the kitchen table that was believed to have been written by Tracy and “detailing why he committed the crime.” Authorities have not released the contents of the note, and no motive has been publicly disclosed.
Tracy made his first court appearance Wednesday and was formally charged as an adult with first-degree murder. He is currently being held without bond. Court records show his next hearing is scheduled for March 3.
WRAL reported that Tracy was a high school wrestler, citing a spokesperson for Cumberland County Schools. Students who attended school with Tracy and rode the bus with him told the station, speaking off camera, that they were stunned by the allegations.
According to the report, Svaldi was a mother of three. Authorities have not said whether her other two children were inside the home at the time of her death. The investigation remains ongoing.
