Pa. man allegedly fatally stabbed mother in the neck, fled, and accessed her bank account
02/16/2024 3:02 pm PST
ALTOONA, Pa. (TCD) -- A 30-year-old man remains hospitalized after allegedly fatally stabbing his 61-year-old mother during an argument and jumping off the second floor of an airport parking garage.
On Wednesday, Feb. 14, shortly before 8 a.m., Allegheny County Police Department officers were dispatched to the Pittsburgh International Airport in reference to a man who jumped from the second floor of a parking garage. Officers searched for the man, later identified as Joshua Leyo, but couldn’t find him.
Leyo called from a stairwell in the garage seeking medical care, where he was located and transported to a local hospital for serious injuries.
According to a news release from the Altoona Police Department, later that day, shortly after 1:40 p.m., officers responded to a home in the 200 block of East Maple Avenue, where they found Maureen Mazenko dead in the living room with a stab wound to the neck.
Altoona Police discovered the victim’s son, Leyo, lived with her prior to the fatal stabbing. He allegedly used his mother’s bank account and took an Uber to Pittsburgh and made other purchases. On Feb. 13, one day before allegedly killing his mother, Leyo went to the emergency room to get treatment for a hand laceration.
Allegheny County Police told Altoona Police Leyo had suffered serious injuries after jumping from the second floor of the garage and remains hospitalized at Allegheny General Hospital.
Officers from both police departments went to speak with Leyo, who "confessed that he became engaged in a verbal argument with Mazenko and stabbed her in the neck."
Following the stabbing, Leyo said he fled the home, believing his mother was dead.
Leyo remains in police custody at the hospital. Upon his release, he will be extradited back to Blair County and arraigned on charges of first-degree murder, Altoona Police said.
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