Sheboygan Falls mother committed to life in a mental institution for killing her 8-year-old son
SHEBOYGAN - On Thursday, a judge committed 43-year-old Natalia Hitchcock to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services for life.
Prosecutors charged Hitchcock with first-degree intentional homicide for the death of 8-year-old Oliver Hitchcock in April 2022. Sheboygan County Judge Daniel Borowski found Natalia not guilty due to a mental disease, although she admitted to killing her son.
As part of a plea agreement, Borowski dismissed an additional charge against Hitchcock of attempted first-degree intentional homicide for allegedly holding her older son underwater in the bathtub in their Sheboygan Falls apartment days before his brother’s death.
Hitchcock will be able to petition for conditional release from a mental institution every six months, but the courts deny release if there is convincing evidence that a person would pose a significant risk to themselves or others.
People who are conditionally released remain under supervision.
Hitchcock killed her son ‘based on delusions and hallucinations’
Judge Borowski said that Hitchcock “became acutely psychotic to the point that she, based on delusions and hallucinations, took the life of her own child.”
According to a criminal complaint, Hitchcock had not been diagnosed with any mental health disorders before she killed her son, but she told police after the homicide that someone was controlling her mind and she killed her son to save him from abuse.
Before she strangled her son, she tried to take her own life and a had a “critical amount” of Tylenol in her system, according to the criminal complaint.
Her attorneys immediately raised concerns about whether Hitchcock was competent to stand trial after she was charged. After two evaluations, Borowski found her competent last fall, meaning he thought she was able to understand court proceedings and assist her attorneys.
Hitchcock’s attorney, Solomon Gatton, said she has felt remorse for her son’s death “since day one.”
“I don’t even think remorse, quite frankly, does justice to what Natalia is feeling,” Gatton said.
Hitchcock, crying in court, said of her son: “I miss him so much. I just want him to be remembered. He is an amazing boy, and I want to say I’m sorry to everyone, and thank you to everyone who was trying to save him.”
Reach Maya Hilty at 920-400-7485 or MHilty@sheboygan.gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Sheboygan Press: Sheboygan Falls mother Natalia Hitchcock sentenced for homicide
