New York man beheads his mother, steps in front of train -police

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A man decapitated his mother, dumped her head and body on the ground outside their Long Island apartment and walked into the path of a moving commuter train, police said on Wednesday. The murder-suicide on Tuesday night claimed the life of Patricia Ward, 66, a professor at Farmingdale State College, part of the State University of New York, said Officer Kenneth Parker of Nassau County Police. A body identified as that of her son, Derek Ward, 35, was found near the Long Island Rail Road tracks, he said. Police called to the scene at 7:55 p.m. on Tuesday found the woman's body outside the apartment in Farmingdale and her head about five feet away in the street, Parker said. Derek Ward beheaded his mother inside the home, carried the body and head outside and left them there, police said, then walked about 3/4 miles west along the train tracks and was struck by a moving train. The motive for the killing was unknown and neighbors said they heard no noises from the apartment, police said. "Derek has a prior psych history over the past 10 years. It was exacerbated in the last year by the death of his grandfather on August 13," Parker said. (Reporting by Barbara Goldberg; Editing by Bill Trott and Mohammad Zargham)