The Misery Machine - The Case of Christian Gomez & Maria Pia Suarez-Cassagne

Episode Date: September 11, 2024

This week, Drewby and Yergy head to Florida to discuss the tragic case of 48-year-old Maria Pia Suarez-Cassagne, a mother of 3 who was just trying to enjoy a nice New Years Eve dinner with her children: Mario Andres, Maria Jose (Mary Jo), and Christian. 23-year-old Christian was a complicated young man who claimed to talk to God. Christian often refused to take his medication - claiming that Maria Pia was trying to poison him - and would have violent spells that caused his own mother to sleep with a knife under her pillow. December 31st, 2014 should have been like any normal New Years Eve... but it wasn't. That evening, Christian snapped after his mother asked for help moving boxes of Christmas decorations back up to the attic. But instead of helping her out, Christian decapitated his 48-year-old mother with an axe in the family garage. To add insult to injury, he threw her head away into the garbage.  Support Our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/themiserymachine PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/themiserymachine Join Our Facebook Group: https://t.co/DeSZIIMgXs?amp=1 Instagram: miserymachinepodcast Twitter: misery_podcast Discord: https://discord.gg/kCCzjZM #themiserymachine #podcast #truecrime Source Material: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/188655006/maria-pia-suarez_cassagne https://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/-How-could-he-be-found-competent-after-what-he-did-_170376898/ https://www.curlewhills.com/obituaries/Maria-Pia-Suarez-Cassagne?obId=27976165 https://heavy.com/news/2015/01/christian-gomez-murder-tampa-beheading-clean-boxes-maria-suarez-cassagne/ https://www.bradfordera.com/news/sheriff-s-office-florida-man-decapitates-his-mother/article_2ea3a0c8-9215-11e4-9e71-8b7b63727149.html https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/2015/01/01/florida-man-faces-murder-charge-after-mother-found-decapitated-new/15645445007/ https://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/sons-mental-illness-preceded-decapitation-of-oldsmar-mother/2228888/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sheriff-florida-man-decapitated-mom-with-ax-on-new-years-eve/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/01/02/ax-killing-mother/21181991/ http://www.dc.state.fl.us/offenderSearch/detail.aspx?Page=Detail&DCNumber=K40016&TypeSearch=AI https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/01/02/mentally-ill-florida-man-decapitated-mother-after-disagreement-about-chores/ https://medium.com/graphic-gore/mom-was-nagging-him-about-chores-so-he-chopped-her-head-off-9dbeb4525ecb https://www.documentingreality.com/forum/f249/decapitation-maria-suarez-cassagne-christian-gomez-158964/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJdzwSI42iE&ab_channel=DailyMail https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yy6qOxgxIo&ab_channel=ABCActionNews

Christian Jose Gomez was born to his mother, Maria Pia Suarez-Casagna, on February 4, 1991. He had two siblings, Mario Andres, and Maria Jose, who went by Mary Jo. The family lived together in a three-bedroom white house with navy blue trim located at 1924 Sheffield Court in Oldsmar, Florida, a bay community between Clearwater and Tampa. At the time of our story, Christian was 23 years old and had recently been diagnosed. diagnosed with schizophrenia. The young man enjoyed his alone time. He enjoyed watching television, playing video games, and he loves sitting outside for hours to stare at the grass and sky. According to his uncle Mario, I would find him in the backyard reading like a little Bible

and chanting. He would look up to the sky and say he loved to talk to the stars and talk to God. His therapist suggested that he might try socializing more, but that wouldn't help with the problems that Christian was experiencing. He was largely indifferent towards conversation, unless you counted talking to God, and the echoes that he heard that were allegedly accosting him from beneath his bed at night.

Christian took medication, but it wasn't working. To combat these specters that played him, he'd flipped his mattress over and lean it up against the wall. He'd spent many a night in his family's dark living room to escape the voices. Meanwhile, his mother, Maria Pia, slept with a kitchen knife under her pillow. Maria Pia had done everything that she could for her middle child.

As a single mother, it wasn't always easy. She would leave work early to bring him to doctor's appointments and therapy sessions, fill a Syracquil prescription, and do everything she could to protect her son. She would even crush his pills up and mix them into his food when he refused to take them. This ultimately resulted in Christian accusing his mother, of trying to poison him. Maria Pia truly hoped that her son would recover

from his mental illness. Eventually, taking care of Christian resulted in her losing her job. Worried that she couldn't leave him alone. She would bring him to Meese Countryside Hospital where she worked in admissions. But unfortunately, that strategy backfired. Unable to afford private inpatient care

and unable to find room in state facilities, Maria Pia did what any good mother would do. She tried caring for her son all on her own. She reached out for assistance with finding Christian a facility with 24-hour care, a place where he would be mandated to comply with his medication regimen, a place where he and everyone around him would hopefully be safe. Christian had already been held for a mandatory health evaluation in 2013 under Florida's Baker Act after he waved his skateboard at a round.

random person in the street while talking incoherently. He had skinned and buried their family cat. Christian had minor arrest for loitering, prowling, disorderly conduct, and resisting an officer without violence. He also had been picked up by police for wandering around the neighborhood asking people if he could live with them. As his paranoid symptoms began to take over, he stopped showering and thought that his mother and sister were watching him through the television.

He couldn't hold down a job, he didn't want to drive. The once happy and affectionate child started acting out, isolating himself from the rest of the family. Due to Christian's inappropriate behaviors, his sister Mary Jo, who was 16 then, was not allowed to stay home alone with her brother. According to Mary Jo, quote, my mom loved Christian. She would do anything to protect him, but nobody could help us. She went to therapists, psychiatrists, counselors. Every time something else happened, they would say, up his dose of meds. They didn't take the time to really look at Christian and figure out what was wrong with him, end quote.

On the afternoon of December 30th, 2014, Christian's grandparents took him to an appointment where it was decided he needed to find a new psychiatrist. In the days prior, the young man's condition worsened with the arrival of his older brother Mario, who was a very important. visiting for the holidays from Virginia. Mario, who was 28 at the time of our story, only made it home about once a year, so Maria Pia wanted to take advantage of her time with her eldest. The two brothers often argued, with Christian believing that his mother favored his older brother.

The attention she paid to him only furthered this delusion, which caused Christian to spiral and sequester himself to his room. To make matters worse, Christian had been harboring a dark resentment toward Maria Pia, all because she'd been asking him to bring down some boxes from the attic so she could put away the Christmas decorations. Mario cooked corn, beef, potatoes, and cabbage on New Year's Eve for dinner. The family gathered around the table, they said Grace,

and enjoyed what they didn't realize would be their final meal together. Afterwards, Maria Pia dropped Mary Jo off for her 5 p.m. shift at Little Caesars and headed home as she had company stopping by that day. The last time that Mario saw his mother alive, she was in her room listening to music. The brother settled in to Reed while his younger brother sat on the floor. Christian watched Mario for a few minutes and then left. A few moments later, Christian asked Maria Pia if she still needed help bringing down the boxes from the attic, and she said yes.

Together, the pair headed towards the garage. Now, according to his brother Mario, quote, I heard a thump in the garage, and I thought it was the boxes he was bringing down. That's why I didn't put much mind in it. I didn't hear a scream, yelling, yelping, anything, end quote. Meanwhile, Maria Pia's company had arrived. That evening, she had planned to dye her friend Veronica Allen's hair.

Veronica walked over to the open garage door and witnessed Christian with various cleaning supplies, including a swiffer, a broom, and a bucket. The 23-year-old was mopping up what Veronica thought was red paint. Due to Christian's strange behavior, Veronica called Maria Pia. When she didn't pick up, she left, believing that there had been some sort of family dispute. She proceeded to leave a voicemail and send a text message that would never be answered. Still reading 20 minutes later, Mario got an eerie,

feeling that the house was just too quiet and got up to investigate what was going on. When he opened the garage door, he observed a puddle of blood and an axe leaning against the wall. There was a trail of blood leading to the door. Unsure of what was awaiting him on the other side, Mario followed the blood trail out the door. Outside, he found his mother's body lying motionless near garbage bins. She had been decapitated, and Christian was nowhere to be found. It was then that he called 911. Meanwhile, four neighbors sat in their garage a few blocks away on Forest Drive

and joined a friendly poker game for New Year's Eve. And out of nowhere, Christian walked in and asked them for a beer. When the neighbors refused, Christian left the garage and hid behind some of their garbage bins. Neighbor Ronald Quick approached Christian and offered him a bottle of water. But then he noticed that the 23-year-old had blood on his ankles. And then Ronald saw the helicopters overhead, so he went to call 911. At the same time, Christian fled the scene on his bicycle. Back at home, first responders had already arrived on the scene and managed to recover Maria Pia's head. It had been stuffed in the trash.

At about 8 p.m., sheriff's deputy spotted Christian. He attempted to hurry past the cruiser, but fell off bicycle and onto the grass over at 1802 Driftwood Circle. Christian was taken into custody and brought in for questioning the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office in Dunedin Station. Christian, who was represented by a public defender, spoke an ominous whispers. He told detectives that he had thought about killing his mother for two days. He said he was angry and grabbed the axe and swung it like a baseball bat, severing his mother's head. In his own words, he told them, I finished her.

Why that I finished her? You just finished her. What do you mean by that? Had to take her outside and do it what I'm having. Okay, but you hit her in the head in the garage, correct? And you took her head off in the garage, correct? Yes? What I'm trying to understand, Christian, is from the point she made you mad, what transpired from there? Do you. What transpired from there? Do you wind up? picking up an axe and hitting her with it how did that transpire can you explain that to me? Oh yeah it took about 15 minutes you said you were up in the attic when she made you mad

yeah you remember what she said to make you mad so what did you do you're up in the attic obviously you weren't up in the attic with the axe right I don't know you climbed down did you what were you feeling when you were thinking when you were swinging the axe cutting at your neck did you know what you were doing when you were doing that you had to do it like you have to do it when did you keep thinking about it for a while or did you've been thinking about hurting her head off with an axe when did you come up with this this plan to use the axe you know where the axe was I mean you have to go search it for it or not for like that right yeah where were you

standing when you first time you hit her where'd you get the ax wrong when you were with the axe and you caught her head off think what you were doing was wrong and was against the law? Yeah, it kind of knew that. You kind of knew what was wrong? Yeah. Can you explain that a little bit better? I mean, obviously, if you taken a red off, you knew that, right?

Yeah. Yeah. He had a bad feeling. What was against the law? Is that why you fled? Is that yes? Yeah. Andrus, when this was going on.

Yeah, he was, uh, just reading and the, uh... So there was no... And again, I wasn't there. There was no yelling or screaming. Your mom didn't scream when you hit her with the axe the first time. Or she went right down. Was she trying to run away from you? Yeah.

Where was she trying to go? Like that? You try to get maybe your brother's attention? No. It just happened real quick with the axe. How'd you swing it? The baseball mat? Coming over your head?

Like this motion? Yeah. Using one or two hands? Oh, no, you do. Ripping the axe. Can you show me how are you like that? And then how big is the axe, the handle? I haven't seen it.

It was just like this big the x. Yeah, am I gonna get, like, time for this? Are you gonna get time for it? Well, that's not up to myself or John. You guys are parole officers? Parole officers? No. We're detectives.

Facts and find out what happened? Yeah. Okay. So, so when do I get a hearing? So am I staying here tonight? Not here. Not in this room, not. Did your, uh, did your mom go pick somebody up today?

No. No? She didn't go to the airport? Along with your sister Maria? Yeah. Did she ever make you mad? I do this, I mean, as far as her, your mom, obviously Maria wasn't there. Were you waiting for Maria to go to work?

to work? Yeah, you guess. Do you see a doctor for anything? Yeah, I see a medical conditions. You said your mom hasn't been making good food. What's what's been wrong with the food? You said he puts poison. What's poison? Yeah. What kind of poison? No, she just, I don't know, she sometimes cuts her wrong. Sometimes she wants it? She burned or? You don't really think she put poison on your food, Did you say your mom love you? Yeah. Never did anything to hurt you? What was that? You know why you're sitting in here right now, right? I mean, you just told us what happened to feel your mom. You first saw deputies earlier in the helicopter? Did you try to get away from them? Your bike, you mean, pedal with the bike? You had a water bottle when they stopped you on. Did you go to a store to get that or? I didn't do that after you hurt your mom?

You're going to use it that. Can you give us right five minutes? What gas station do you go to to get to water? Yeah, it was. Did you pay for it or did you want? Yeah. See it into the gas station and then you went back for it at your house? You remember what you paid for it?

Yeah, that'd be too late. So two days ago we started thinking about hurting your mom and hit her with an axe, right? What gave you the idea to use the axe? What was that? Yeah. Close weapon? Yeah. Do you think about using any other weapons?

While you were thinking about doing that, did you feel bad about it or did you ever make you anger? Your mom's head in the garbage can. Don't want to see it or show off seeing her head? Yeah, she just got to be mad. What I'm trying to ask is, you left the body outside, correct? Yeah. And you put the head in the garbage can. Was there a reason why the head wound in the garbage can?

What are you feeling like right now? He's a bathroom. You gotta use the bathroom. Yeah, the highest grade of school you went to. That's both. 12th grade as you graduate high school she's in college at all how long for uh for uh phos right no p okay well i'm gonna stop this okay and we'll take you down yeah it's uh 12 37 and the first day of january 2015 we're in a community bathroom

check i think she she might be gone man just not a state person no we're just going to pick up for more we'll start it okay detective capone was back on tape the time it's zero zero 39 push and we let you use a bathroom we feel better now that you use a bathroom let's talk about the uh the water bottle are you sure you went to a sip code or not that huh yeah yeah you get it from uh down the road somebody give you the water bottle i mean if they did be honest with me okay you're shaking your head yes now you're shaking it no what Just the gas station. You had knocked on somebody's door or somebody saw you

and you asked them for a bottle of water. Your bicycle, was that in the garage? No, I'm hearing. I can't hear it. No, no. Where was it? Was it outside. Was it outside.

Did you ever hit that with anything? Not with the acts, no. So you told us before that this is, I wouldn't say an ongoing thing, but the past week, two weeks, You're just getting angrier at your mom. I can't hear it. Yeah.

And it just, it went bad tonight. And I know we've asked you this before, but we're just trying to get some clarification. Did you guys, you and your mom, did you go into the garage together? Okay, you're shaking your head, yes. Yeah. Okay.

Did she call you out to the garage? Or tell you, let's go out to the garage, out to the garage you put these boxes away. Okay, so you went out there. We're just going to go step by step, okay? Baby steps. So you went out to the garage. Who turned the white on? Turned the white on. The attic access. And again, I've never met at your house, so I don't know how it is. Is the attic access in the garage? So you're out in the garage, and you're putting boxes up, and you said earlier there, like Christmas decorations. or whatever yes yes this is I remember though that's all you remember okay and at

some point mom made you pissed or got you angry okay the lights are on and we talked about the axe do you remember exactly where the axe was when you picked it picked it up just the wall it was the wall it was hanging on the wall or so you got the axe Did your mom see me get the axe? Yeah, she's done. Okay. Or she's standing at? Put the axe off the wall, what does she say to you?

What do you mean, Paris? Did she say something to you? So at that time, you had the axe in your right or left hand? You had in your left hand? Do you move towards her? Can you take me through that, walk me through that? You got the axe off the wall. We know that.

You put it in your left hand. She wasn't that part. And the first time that you raised the axe up, you struck her on top. of the head in the face on the side? No, it was just, yeah, it was just on top of the head. On top of the head, okay. And how many times do you think you struck her on top of the head?

Oh no, just like five, ten times. Five ten times. But the first time that you struck her on top of the head, she followed around. Okay. Did that make a noise when she hit the deck? What type of noise was it? It was just like a noise. It was ripping?

Yeah. skin so when she was out in the garage with you too when she fell on the floor what was she wearing at the time just this way top and bottom yeah short shorts or long pants so once she was on the ground Christian is that when you started to cut her head off yes and how many times do you think that you struck her in the neck It's just the sense of it. Yeah. You'd use anything else that'll take her head up?

Just the axe. When you're doing that, when you're swinging the axe, and I realize she's not going to be saying anything to you. Are you saying anything to her or... When you say no, not really, anything like aims or anything like that? Can I go now? Yeah.

What else can he call us what took place in her? Fifteen minutes. Yes, we're doing to her, you were taking her life, correct? Yes? Do you that you killed her. I knew that that was wrong to do that, correct? And the reasoning you're telling us, because you were angry, because she was pushy and bossy.

I see you got, you know, blood on your feet, not on your feet, but someone was on your legs and on your face. Is that from swinging the axe and the blood coming back and hitting you in the face? Yeah, a little bit. Did you have more on your face and you wiped off? No. Huh? Did you have, obviously, you must have had some blood on your hands, Christian, right?

Where'd you wash at? In the house? Yeah. Yeah. Were you standing up when you were hitting your mom? Or were you on your knees? You had chopping her in the neck? Did you have to move her head at all?

Are you holding her head or did you roll her over or do it all from one side? What? She making any noises at all when you were going on? Surrey, brother. Fight with somebody. That's why he had blood on him. What do you mean about that? I think he quiet.

You got to water bottle. According to Sheriff Bob Galtieri, quote, In a very calm, cool way, he explained what he did, why he did it, and what happened. And by talking to him, you wouldn't know he had any mental illness. That's very scary, end quote. Christian was placed under arrest and charged with the first-degree homicide of his mother. Authorities refer to her death as one of the most macabre homicides in Pinellas County. Due to his mental state, a judge found Christian incompetent to stand trial

and ordered that his mental state be re-evaluated at a later date. Until that time, he was to remain in the custody of a state hospital. After roughly three years, Christian, now 27, was declared competent to stand trial on July 9th, 2018. Facing a life sentence, he accepted a plea deal that effectively worked out to 25 years in prison, followed by 10 years of probation and treatment. With time served in the possibility of early release,

Christian could be free in 20 years. Christian is serving his sentence at the Santa Rosa Correctional Institution, annex in Milton, Florida, where his current release date is August 5, 2039. It should be noted that this is not a psychiatric facility. The notion that Christian could be out on the street, deeply disturbs his family. According to his uncle Mario, quote, I hate for another person to go through what my family has gone through. It's an injustice. He doesn't need to be in jail. He needs to be in jail. He needs to be in a mental hospital. I wish that he could be sedated forever and not hurt anybody else.

Because what he did was crazy. Nobody kills their mom and takes her head. People shoot other people. They stab other people. This was different. This was evil. End quote. Maria Pia was laid to rest in the Garden of Prayer section of the Curlew Hills Memory Gardens in Palm Harbor, Florida. Born on September 24th, 1965, she was 48 years old at the time of her tragic death. Maria Pia will be remembered for her love of painting, classic statues, and collecting Persian rugs. She is survived by her children and her dog, Coco Chanel.

The inscription on the copper plaque adorning her crypt reads, for a loving mother and friend.