After a Year of Planning, Man Lured His Mother to Apartment to Beat and Stab Her to Death: Police

A man lured his mother to visit his apartment, then he beat her with a hammer and stabbed her with a knife, cops say. Defendant Logan Lopez, 24, was “matter of fact with detectives” about killing Mary Beth Lopez, 53, said a spokeswoman for the Clearwater Police Department in Florida. He allegedly said he planned this murder for about a year.

“He had said that previously, she had enslaved him,” police Major Natalia Illich-Hailey said in a press conference Sunday (h/t WFLA). “What that means, we’re not sure.”

Police are still trying to untangle that alleged motive.

“We’re still trying to understand the dynamics of all this,” she said.

Logan Lopez had no criminal history that officers found, Illich-Hailey said. He was detained in February under Florida’s mental health-related Baker Act, she said. There was an incident in the city of Tampa involving another family, and authorities over there contacted Clearwater officers, she said.

Illich-Hailey did not go into detail about this Baker Act incident or identify the other family member. Illich-Hailey declined to go into extensive detail about this and the murder itself, citing respect for the family.

What she did say was that a neighbor called-in at approximately 5 p.m. on Saturday about hearing a woman scream for help. There was banging, then the woman’s voice stopped. Officers arrived. Logan Lopez allegedly stepped out of the apartment and told cops he killed someone inside. Officers said they found a woman dead inside. It was Mary Beth Lopez.

Logan allegedly told detectives that he had been planning this killing for a year. As part of this alleged confession, he said that he lured his mother over to his apartment. His family’s home had still been getting his mail, Illich-Hailey said. Mary Beth drove over with the mail. Logan asked her to enter his apartment so he could show off his furniture, Illich-Hailey said. He allegedly closed the door behind her, struck her multiple times with a hammer and stabbed her multiple times with a knife.

“The thing that I’ll put out here is that this was a brutal, heinous crime,” Illich-Hailey said. “Just shocks the conscience to be honest with you.”

Logan Lopez faces a count of first-degree murder. He remains locked up at the Pinellas County Jail. Available records do not show a bond amount or an attorney.

[Booking photo via Clearwater Police Department]