A Texas mom was quick to confront her “very sweaty” son when he showed up on her doorstep after allegedly killing a woman with a machete-like weapon.
The unidentified parent told McLennan County sheriff’s deputies that she stepped out of her home in rural China Spring last Saturday when she saw her son, Richard Tanner Ozment, 36, standing outside “very sweaty,” the U.K. Daily Mail reported, per KWTX.
She said she tried to walk around him, but he stood in her way, so she shoved him to get around him.
In that moment, the woman said, she saw a human foot behind an RV on her property. As she drew closer, she said, she spotted a badly injured woman who was later identified as 38-year-old Michaela Brooker.
“What have you done?” the mother asked her son, according to court documents, to which he allegedly replied: “She (the murder victim) tried to stab me.”
Police said the mom ran back inside her house at that point and Ozment’s dad called 911.
China Spring firefighters were first to arrive on scene and noticed a man running away from the home, KWTX reported.
Sheriff’s deputies arrived later and cleared the area but couldn’t locate the son.
First-responders tended to Brooker, a mother of one who was suffering “extensive injuries, mainly to her head,” arrest records show.
She was airlifted to a hospital where she died.
The accused was located about 10 hours later by deputies riding on horseback along with K9s. He was hiding in a stock tank near the crime scene.
At a news conference, Sheriff Parnell McNamara said the woman’s death arose from a “domestic disturbance” but would not elaborate on the exact relationship between the accused and the victim.
“This is one of the most horrific, brutal and senseless attacks that we have seen in a long time,” he said. “It never should have happened.
“This guy who we believe committed this horrible and brutal murder was sentenced to 40 years,” he added. “He served approximately 10 years, was paroled out and then (allegedly) committed this horrible crime.
“He never should have gotten out, but he did.”
The Sheriff was referencing Ozment’s arrest at age 25 in 2014 for taking photos outside China Spring Elementary School.
He was charged with failing to register as a sex offender, and admitted at the time he participated in several burglaries at local churches.
Ozment was sentenced to 40 years behind bars but was released on parole after serving 10.
He had previously been arrested and convicted of aggravated sexual assault at age 16, and three years later was arrested on a felony terroristic threat charge.
He is being held at the McLennan County Jail on a $1-million bond for murder, however, he will be held without bond due to a probation violation order.