Ohio Man Accused Of Burning Mother’s Body After Choking Her, Stuffing Her Body In Sewer Pipe, Authorities Say

A man was arrested in connection with the death of his mother, whose body was allegedly burned outside the family’s home in Ohio.

On the morning of Oct. 1, the Toledo Police Department said they received a call about a missing woman, 71-year-old Nancy Lewton.

Officers responded to a home, where they discovered an area behind the garage that had been burned, WTVG reported.

According to court records obtained by the station, the victim’s son, Travis J. Lewton, 31, allegedly admitted he had been thinking for around a week about killing his mother, who reportedly was choked to death after she returned from work on Sept. 30.

Lewton allegedly told detectives he took “her body down in the ravine behind his house, stuffing her in a sewer pipe, and setting her on fire,” the court documents state.

Police claimed they found evidence that Lewton allegedly killed the victim, and he was charged with premeditated aggravated murder.

One neighbor of the family told WTVG that Travis Lewton had a history of run-ins with the law and issues with his mother.

“We’ve known Travis since he was in high school and he had trouble back then, like a lot of kids but maybe a little bit more. And it just followed him as he grew up,” Ray Wagner said.

Cynthia Wagner told WTVG that the suspect “has struggled since he was a young man” and said the grisly incident in their quiet neighborhood “just highlights that mental health issues are universal.”

“We need more community resources, we need help. It doesn’t matter nobody is immune,” she said, adding, “A mother’s love just doesn’t end. No matter what your son’s mental illness is, and I’m sorry that it ended this way.”