NORWICH – A Norwich teen has been charged as an adult for attempting to murder his mother. Fourteen-year-old Ty A. Tumminia, Norwich, has been charged with second-degree attempted murder. The teen has admitted to attacking, Theresa I. Tumminia, 32, with a phone cord, and strangling her because she refused to allow him to visit his girlfriend in Iowa.
Police received a 9-1-1 call Sunday from the assailant’s eight-year-old brother. Police responded to the home at 80 South Broad St. and discovered the mother unconscious. “While attending to the female’s injuries, the 14-year-old male left the residence, taking a car parked in the driveway,” Norwich Police Chief Joseph Angelino said in a press release this week.
A Norwich Fire Department Ambulance took the mother to the emergency room at Chenango Memorial Hospital Sunday night. She has since been released and is expected to fully recover.
Tumminia is a ninth grade student at Norwich High School.
In a statement given to investigators, he said: “I stayed up and talked to Christina on the phone. I told her I had a plan to kill my mother. The only plan that I had was to choke her, and then I did not know what I was going to do after that.” ... “After my mom went to bed, I thought I could choke her with the phone cord and kill her. I just wanted to be with Christina.”
His statement then continued, as follows:
“At about 10:30 p.m., I went to my mother’s bedroom. Her door was open, but the outside light was on. I could see her sleeping on the bed ... I jumped on her and tried to choke her with the phone cord ... She was fighting me the entire time and I was able to get the cord around her neck. We were on the bed. Most of the time, we were rolling around and she was trying to scratch me. She scratched me pretty bad in the face. She was able to grab the phone cord and break it in half while I was choking her with it.”
“After that, I started to choke her with my hands. We rolled onto the floor and I continued to choke her. She was able to yell for my brother to call 911 and then shortly after that, she stopped fighting. I thought I had killed her ..."
“I picked her up and placed her in her bed. I placed her arms under her face and covered her with a blanket. I wanted to make her look like she was sleeping. While doing that, two cops showed up ...”
“I ran downstairs and grabbed the car keys. I then ran out the door and drove away. I drove around and when I came back, I saw that my uncle was there. I left and went south of town. I went behind the building and went to sleep there until the police saw me.”
Theresa Tumminia also made a statement to investigators:
“I don’t know how long I was asleep when something woke me up and I saw Ty in the room. I sat up and went to call out Ty’s name. When I did, Ty got behind me and placed something around my neck. When Ty did this, I placed my right hand up and forced it between my neck and the thing Ty placed around my neck.”
“I called out to Ty and said, Stop, you’re killing me. What are you doing? I love you. I said this several times. At some point, Ty put his right arm around my neck and was using that to choke me. I went limp so Ty would think I was out and let go of me, but he never did.”
“At this time, I fought with everything I had. I kicked and scratched, anything I could do to get away. During the fight, we landed on the floor on the left side of the bed. I was able to reach up and call for (8 year old son) to call 911. I looked toward the door and saw (8 year old son) come into the room. I told him again to call 911.”
“I also saw Dutchess, my dog, standing in the doorway, barking. The next thing I remember was waking up in the emergency room.”
At about 7:30 a.m. Monday, New York State Troopers discovered Tumminia along Rt. 12 just south of the city and took him into custody.
District Attorney Joseph McBride has decided to prosecute the teen-ager as an adult for attempted 2nd degree murder. “Due to the severity of this crime where the victim would have likely have died if it was not for the arrival of police, we made the decision to charge him as an adult,” said McBride. The defense in the case will have the option to make a motion in court to move the case back to Family Court, effectively rescinding that the teen be tried as an adult.
The teen-ager was arraigned in front of Judge Howard Sullivan and then remanded to a Hillbrook Detention Center. He will be scheduled to appear in court for a felony hearing Friday.