AUGUSTA — A Maine man charged with killing and dismembering his father was ordered Thursday to undergo a mental health evaluation at a court appearance that ended with him declaring himself “the Lord, Father of life” and asking the gathered media to follow him on Twitter.
Leroy Smith III, 24, told an investigator he recorded at least some of the crime and posted it on YouTube and Twitter, but removed the postings and deleted the video from his camera and computer, according to court records.
A police affidavit said Smith told an officer he killed his father by stabbing him in the neck then used three knives to chop up his body.
“Leroy Smith III stated that he filleted him and buried him in the woods because his dad sexually assaulted him his whole life,” an investigator wrote.
The defendant, who’s being held without bail, did not enter a plea during the hearing. Leaving the courtroom, he told reporters, “I am the Lord, Father of life.”
The Associated Press does not generally identify potential victims of sexual abuse. However, Smith later gave an interview to WGME-TV in which he said he wanted to tell his story.
In the interview, Smith confessed to the killing and suggested he did it for attention. “I did this to get my name out there. How else will I get the attention of yourself?” he said. “I’m a no one sitting up here in Maine.”
The defendant told police he moved the remains of his 56-year-old father, Leroy Smith Jr., from their shared apartment in Gardiner to a wooded location in Richmond.
The younger man led investigators to his father’s body using a signed map and verbal instructions, police said. The father’s body was contained in at least nine plastic bags.
The son was arrested Monday on a warrant from Massachusetts, where he was charged with violating a protection order. Charges were filed Tuesday after the medical examiner’s report found his father died of multiple stab wounds to the head and neck.
Police said the case developed quickly after the younger Smith drove to Westbrook, where he flagged down an officer and asked for directions to a strip club. After the officer arrested him on the fugitive warrant, he blurted out that he killed his father at the jail, according to a state police detective.
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