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Background: News footage of the home in Fayetteville, N.C., where Katherine Svaldi was found dead on Feb. 10 (WRAL). Inset (left): Isaac Tracy (Fayetteville Police Department). Inset (right): Katherine Svaldi (Facebook).
Seventeen-year-old Isaac Tracy was taken into custody on Tuesday after authorities visited the residence he shared with his mother, 49-year-old Katherine Svaldi. This visit followed an “urgent” welfare check request. As detailed in a probable cause affidavit obtained by Law&Crime, Tracy informed a grandparent over the phone on Tuesday evening that he had “killed his mother” and placed her body in the garage.
Subsequently, Tracy contacted 911, expressing a desire to be arrested for the crime he admitted to committing against his mother.
Upon their arrival at the home shortly after 7 p.m., officers discovered Svaldi’s body partially protruding from a recycling bin situated in the garage. She was declared deceased at the location.
When police arrived at the home just after 7 p.m., they found Svaldi”s body sticking out of a recycling bin in the garage. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police immediately placed Tracy into custody after finding him at the home with blood on him and “self-inflicted injuries.” According to the affidavit, a note was found on the kitchen table, purportedly written by Tracy and “detailing why he committed the crime.” The contents of that note were not made public, and a possible motive for the alleged killing was not provided.
Tracy made his first court appearance on Wednesday after being charged as an adult with first-degree murder. He is being held in custody without bond. His next hearing is scheduled for March 3.
Local NBC affiliate WRAL reported that according to a spokesperson for Cumberland County Schools, Tracy was a high school wrestler. Students who went to school with Tracy and rode the bus with him told WRAL off camera that they were shocked by the allegations.
WRAL reported that Svaldi was a mother of three. It was not known if her other two children were in the home at the time of her death.