Officials: Long Island Man Who Killed Mother Stopped Taking Medication

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Officials in New York say the man who jumped in front of a train shortly after beheading his own mother in Long Island this week had stopped taking his medication. 

On Tuesday night, the body of 66-year-old Farmingdale State College professor Patricia Ward was discovered outside of her apartment building. Just moments later, police got word that her 35-year-old son, Derek, had committed suicide. His uncle, Rev. Robert Lubrano, explained that his nephew struggled with mental illness for years and hadn't taken his medication in four days. 

"He killed my sister because we couldn’t get the prescriptions he needed," Lubrano told the New York Daily News. "For four days, he didn’t have his meds."

Due to Derek Ward's age, his mother's insurance couldn't cover him. However, Lubrano says that his sister had found a psychiatrist who agreed to meet with her son today. "She finally met a compassionate psychiatrist, but she’ll never make it to see him," he explained. 

Lubrano said that prior to Tuesday's incident, Derek Ward had never been violent. 

[via New York Daily News]

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