Man who killed mom at 13-years-old convicted of weapon possession in custody
A 20-year-old Garden Grove man who stabbed his mother to death as a 13-year-old and later escaped custody before being recaptured has been convicted on felony charges that he manufactured a weapon while in custody at the Orange County Jail, authorities announced Tuesday.
Ike Souzer was found guilty in 2019 by a juvenile judge for voluntary manslaughter of his mother, 48-year-old Barbra Scheuer-Souzer. She was discovered by a neighbor outside of their Garden Grove home, covered in blood and suffering from multiple stab wounds to the stomach, police said at the time.
His attorney at the time, David Hammond, told the Orange County Register there was “clear evidence” that the boy acted in self-defense after years of abuse by his mother.
In 2022, when he was 18, Souzer, made headlines again when he escaped the custody of a Santa Ana halfway house after his release on electronic monitoring from the Theo Lacey Facility in Orange. He was recaptured just a few days later at a homeless encampment in Anaheim.
He also previously pleaded guilty in Dec. 2021 to attacking three correctional officers and was ordered to wear an electronic monitoring device for the remainder of his sentence, which had been set to expire in July 2023, according to a news release from the Orange County District Attorney’s office.
This month, however, an Orange County jury found Souzer guilty on a felony count of possessing a weapon in a custodial facility and a felony count of manufacturing a weapon while in custody.
He faces a maximum of four years and is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 24.
“This individual is extremely dangerous and extremely violent,” said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer. “Safeguarding the public’s safety is paramount and I am extremely proud of the work my prosecutors in Special Prosecutions have done to continue to continue to keep the public safe from someone who has demonstrated time and time again that he has no issue engaging in violence and will do everything he can to escape from custody.”
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