Man found guilty but mentally ill in deadly stabbing of 93-year-old mother in Bartlett
BARTLETT, Ill. — A former Bartlett man accused in the stabbing death of his 93-year-old mother in 2019 has been found guilty but mentally ill.
According to DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin, 69-year-old Edward Mitzelfeld was found guilty but mentally ill in the deadly stabbing of his mother, which occurred in May of 2019 at a home that the two shared in Bartlett.
Judge Daniel Guerin handed down the verdict on Friday, following a seven-day-long bench trial that ended on Friday, March 22.
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Berlin said authorities were called to the home in the 700 block of Bryn Mawr Avenue just before 5:30 p.m. on May 29, 2019. After arriving on the scene, they found Mitzelfeld in the front yard with his hands in the air.
Authorities say they then entered the home and found Mitzelfeld’s 93-year-old mother, Frances Kelly, stabbed to death on the kitchen floor.
The deadly stabbing sparked an investigation and authorities later determined that Mitzelfeld was in the kitchen with his mother when he stabbed her several times in the back with a kitchen knife. Mitzelfeld then called 911 following the stabbing.
Authorities say Kelly suffered stab wounds that severed her aorta and entered her lungs.
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Mitzelfeld, who was later charged with five counts of first-degree murder, appeared in court on May 31, 2019, where his bond was set at $5 million with 10% to apply. He has remained in custody at the DuPage County Jail since that date.
“This is a tragic case that has surely taken a tremendous toll on Frances’ and Edward’s entire family,” Berlin said. “It is my sincerest hope that with the trial now behind them, Frances’ surviving family and friends will somehow be able to gain some measure of closure on this horrible chapter in their lives and remember Frances for how she lived and not how she died.”
Mitzelfeld is set to make his next court appearance on Friday, May 10.
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