Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Ohio Man Allegedly Stabbed Mom to Death, Wounded Dad in Deadly Attack

Episode Date: August 21, 2024

Kenneth Mortimer, 40, is accused of murdering his mother, Barbara Mortimer, and wounding his father in an attack at their home in a suburb of Cincinnati earlier this month. Police body cameras were recording as they found Thomas Mortimer wounded on his porch and officers later captured Kenneth at a park. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy breaks down the footage and what Mortimer says in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Use the code LAW15 for 15% off at https://citybeauty.com/LCCrimeFix. That’s promo code LAW15 for 15% off your order!Host:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5Guest: Curt Hartman https://x.com/HartmanOH27CRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this law and crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. We're going to wait on that. Kenneth, we're going to take you inside, okay? You're dead. Step on out for us. That's Kenneth Mortimer, and he just told a police officer, you're gay, as he was taken to the police station after being arrested for the stabbing death of his mother and an attack on his father.

Police body cameras were recording the entire time. Welcome to Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. No one raises their children thinking that they will ever turn on them and hurt them, much less kill them. But the prosecutor in Hamilton County, Ohio said that happened to an older couple earlier this month when Kenneth Mortimer grabbed a large knife and stabbed both of his parents. When police arrived at their home in a suburb of Cincinnati, they found Mortimer's father sitting on the porch of their home wounded. I'm not sure if anybody talked to you yet, but who did this? My son. Okay. And what's his name? Kenneth. Mortimer. Okay. What happened? He just went crazy, grabbed a knife and started stabbing us.

Okay. Did he stab both you and, is that your wife? Okay. He stabbed both of you? Yeah. Okay. It's just absolutely horrible. A view from another officer's body camera showed an officer trying to get a description of Mortimer's vehicle, since police said that he stabbed his mother and father and then took off. Is your wife here too? Was she attacked? Where is she? Is she stabbed? Robert, if you have two victims. Start me another squad, please.

Copy, two victims. Are you stabbing the side? Where is your wife stabbed at? Okay, I'm going to go check on her, okay? What's your son's name? What's his last name? Robert 15, is's a Kenneth Mortimer. It's going to be their son.

Mortimer. I'm sorry, last name Mortimer. What's he driving? Older Honda. Part of the body camera that shows the inside of the home was not released. Officers found Barbara Mortimer in the house stabbed several times. The details of what police say happened are very upsetting. I'll have more on that very shortly. The officer who spoke to Thomas Mortimer went to check in with another officer, and the search for Kenneth Mortimer got underway.

Several of the neighbors said they saw the song next door, so I think we're pretty solid on that. I just want to make sure he's gone for sure. We cleared the house. Okay. Tyler and I did. Okay. We cleared the house, and we have witnesses saying he drove away. Police in the area were on high alert. They were looking for a man who they said had just stabbed two of the most important people in his life, his mother and father.

Officers stopped Kenneth Mortimer in a large park. They said there was blood in his car and on his clothes. We ran him as right as he was because he was already spilling stuff immediately. So they both did or just one? For now. He was in the rain and eyes started pouring out. He stabbed his friend. Awesome. Thank you guys for giving me this. His hands I guess were cut or something when it stitches? Yeah. Probably going to the spot. We haven't searched the car yet. Okay.

All the address you have to do is go to the search player and fill up the sign up. Hey, I remember you. You remember me that one night? I sure do. I didn't stab my mom. I had a good time when they drew me up to Michigan, too. The guy in the cell next to me offered me Sarah glue. I denied. I have a life plan to go on.

An officer from Green Township, that's the suburb where this happened, prepares to take Mortimer into custody since officers with the neighboring Cincinnati Police Department stopped Mortimer. Kenneth Mortimer curses. He uses homophobic slurs when he speaks to these officers, and he really doesn't sound like he's making a lot of sense. Kenneth Mortimer was placed in another set of cuffs injected in my. That's not very nice. Kenneth Mortimer was placed in another set of cuffs and taken back to the police department. We're gonna wait on that. Kenneth, we're gonna take you inside, okay? You're. Step on out for us. Later on that night, Mortimer was taken to jail. Notice he's wearing something different as police have taken his clothes since they are evidence. Just go to the right.

You're good there. Kenneth Mortimer was booked into the jail in Cincinnati on a number of charges, including kidnapping, felonious assault, and aggravated murder. He was put in a yellow jail jumpsuit at first. That means he's on suicide watch. An affidavit lays out what Police in Green Township said happened on August 9th. It says Kenneth Mortimer got into a verbal argument with his mother, Barbara, who told him he couldn't stay there for the night. The affidavit then continues,

The defendant grabbed a knife from the kitchen and approached his parents who were seated on the couch and began stabbing them. Barbara Mortimer ran out the front door where she was taken to the ground by the defendant. Barbara Mortimer was dragged back into the house by the defendant where he stabbed her multiple times. Kenneth Mortimer then took off and police caught up with him in that large park where they said he confessed to stabbing both of his parents. All right. Ready to rock and roll? Yeah, I'll swap out cups with you.

All right, so do you want to hop out for me? I'm just going to change your cups out. 31 of 335. Kenneth, I'm going to slide these up real quick. I'm going to put the new ones on you, okay? One thing that makes this case so incredibly sad is the fact that Kenneth Mortimer's parents said they were going to call psychiatric services before the violence started. They were actually trying to get him help. The grand jury indicted him on a number of

charges this week, including aggravated murder, attempted murder, felonious assault, and kidnapping. The prosecutor issued a statement that said, It is absolutely horrifying to think of the depravity required to brutally attack both of your parents, killing one and nearly killing the other. Barbara and Thomas Mortimer were just trying to get their son the help that he obviously needed, and he responded with unimaginable violence. My heart breaks for the rest of the Mortimer family having to deal with this tragedy. This case is so incredibly disturbing, and it's actually pretty difficult to talk about, but we're able to do that here on Crime Fix because of sponsors like City Lips.

I'm on camera all of the time, so City Lips has really been a game changer. It's not a painful lip plumper that stings and burns. City Lips will give you fuller, healthier, younger looking lips. It uses clinically tested ingredients and soothing moisturizers. Just swipe it on clean, bare lips and experience immediate hydration. After a few minutes, you'll experience the full plumping effects of City Lips. If you'd like to try it, click on the link in the description, scan the QR code on your screen, or go to citybeauty.com slash LC crime fix. Use the code law 15 for 15% off of your order. I want to bring in Kurt Hartman. He was a judge in the County where this happened,

Hamilton County, Ohio in the Cincinnati area. Kurt, you're also an attorney. Obviously this case is incredibly disturbing. The prosecutor has gotten an indictment for aggravated murder, not a shock there, but some really disturbing facts here. I mean, it sounds like the mother, Barbara Mortimer, tried to get away, ran outside, and her son chased after her, attacked her, allegedly. This is what he's accused of doing, and murdered her, stabbed her to death. Yes. And then once he stabbed her outside, apparently in the report, drags her back into the house before he flees the scene. Yeah. Shocking, sad for the family. It's, you know, and the other interesting thing I kind of noticed in the report was, you know,

there's this family disagreement, altercation occurring inside the house. And apparently the parents are saying, we're going to call the police or mental health authorities. And so that kind of suggests to me, I think that the parents already knew their son had some mental health issues. You know, normally in a situation like that, anybody would normally just say, I'm going to call the police and leave it there. So the fact that the parents kind of invoke calling mental health people suggests to me that the son has some underlying mental health issues that ultimately is going to be explored by the court in terms of probably in terms of a competency hearing. And depending upon that determination, whether it goes to trial or that. Yeah, this is, I mean, a horrific set of allegations. As you mentioned, the parents said they were going to call for mental health help. So they've probably obviously had some issues with him in the past in dealing with their son. And in trying to help their son, the prosecutors are saying,

this is how he reacted. He stabbed his father. He went and found the biggest knife he could in the kitchen and stabbed his father and then chases his mom out into the backyard. So as a judge, I mean, if this guy is brought into your courtroom and he took off, too, so he fled the scene. And that that kind of shows right there that potentially a prosecutor would say he knew what he did was wrong. So as a judge, when this guy comes into your courtroom and you're handed this case, how do you handle this? Obviously, you know, high bail, that type of thing. But you talked about competency. This is just horrific. Right, right. And, you know, either side can question the competency or the court on its own can kind of raise the question of his competency at the time the crime was committed.

You know, not competency to stand trial. And part of it would probably also go to competency to stand trial. Does he understand competency to stand trial? Does he understand the nature of the charges? And is he in a position to assist his attorney in terms of a defense? Competency at the time the crime was committed goes to did he understand the wrongfulness of what he was doing. And so what you end up doing in either situation is getting a psychological examination of him and wait for a report to come back. Other side, the defense or the prosecution could get a supplemental report from somebody they wish.

And the court would have to kind of make a judgment initially on that competency question. And depending upon that, the prosecutors could try to work something out. But if not, they could say, we're going to try and we're going to let the jury ultimately decide, was he competent at the time he committed the offense? His father survived. Thank goodness. But my God, this is really tragic because his wife, Barbara Mortimer, is dead. She passed away after being killed by her son, according to what prosecutors and police have said. So how much will what he wants factor into this? We don't know what he wants. He is now grieving the loss of his wife and I'm sure still recovering from being those stab wounds that he suffered.

And he's also struggling with the fact that his son did it. It wasn't a stranger that did it. It's another family member. How much does what he wants done will impact? That's kind of up for the prosecutor to determine on an individual basis. I think his survival, thankfully, is more important in terms of this case, in terms of being able to explain exactly what went on, getting a better understanding of the history of their son and the mental issues that he may have had. And that will play into, I think, how the prosecution proceeds forward, what type of plea deal they may try to work out with the defense. They're seeking life in prison without the possibility of parole and not the death penalty. Do you have any insight into that?

Yeah, I think there's no indication in terms of like a premeditation or any of the aggravating circumstances that would raise the level to being a death penalty case. Again, based upon the indictment and the press release from the prosecutor's office, this really just seems to be something essentially of immediacy or passion that occurred. So to really get to that death penalty case, I think you'd need to have a lot more aggravating circumstances. As I mentioned, he took off and they were able to catch up with him pretty quickly, obviously. But they said, you know, his car, obviously his clothes were covered in blood. He was covered in blood. I mean, it's just a really upsetting thing to happen anywhere. But in that part of town, especially where this occurred, I mean, that's just like a quiet suburban area. And this would be disturbing no matter where it happened. But it's a pretty

shocking thing to see pop up on the news, and I'm sure for the people in that area. No, no, you're right. I actually looked. It's kind of a middle class area of towns. The homes on this street were built in the 1960s, about $200,000 homes, which is a fair value here in Cincinnati. So really middle class, you know, suburban area of Cincinnati. But, you know, it kind of sends the message, you know, this can happen anywhere. You know, the family dynamics, mental health issues, et cetera, happens, you know, in all strata of a society. And so, unfortunately, it took the turn of events that occurred in this instance.

Well, it is incredibly tragic. You're certainly right about that. Kurt Hartman, thank you so much. Well, it is incredibly tragic. You're certainly right about that. Kurt Hartman, thank you so much. Pleasure to be with you. Thank you. And that's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Ann Janette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.