Prosecutors: Man Who Killed Mother Was Facing Homeland Security Probe
Updated 08/30/13 - 11:08 a.m.
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The 27-year-old man accused of killing his mother outside a suburban church on Thursday allegedly confessed to killing her to protect her from a federal investigation of his own illegal activity.
Michael Bassaly, of Downers Grove, was denied bond when he appeared before a DuPage County judge Friday morning on a murder charge for allegedly shooting his mother to death early Thursday.
Yvonne Bassaly, 61, was found Thursday morning in the parking lot of St. Mark Coptic Orthodox Church in Burr Ridge. She'd been shot in the head. Michael Bassaly called 911 after shooting her.
In court, prosecutors said Michael Bassaly confessed to being involved in an illegal scheme involving fake applications for asylum, and was being investigated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. That investigation had started only two days ago.
He allegedly confessed that he feared he would be arrested soon, and planned to kill his mother and himself. Prosecutors said his mother suggested they go to the church to pray. He allegedly told police his mother wanted him to shoot her, but contradicted himself in a confession letter, in which he said he planned to shoot her to protect her from the federal investigation.
He called 911 after shooting his mother in the head while they were parked outside the church.
"This was a premeditated murder," DuPage County State's Attorney Robert Berlin said after Bassaly's court appearance. "This was carefully planned out by the defendant, and as he stated, he killed his mother to protect her from the investigation. He was afraid of what was going to happen to her, as a result of authorities finding out."
Prosecutors played Bassaly's 911 call in court on Friday.
In the call, he can be heard telling a dispatcher "I shot my mom, I shot her brains, please call an ambulance."
He told the dispatcher he still had the gun.
"I have it with me," he said. "She wanted me to do it."
Yvonne Bassaly was taken to Adventist Hinsdale Hospital, where she was pronounced dead early Thursday.
Police found a written confession and suicide note in a FedEx envelope on the dashboard of the car Michael Bassaly had driven to the church. Investigators also found evidence of fake asylum documents inside Michael Bassaly's apartment in Downers Grove.
Prosecutors said he had been living a lie, and had convinced his family he had been attending law school for several years, and was working at a law firm as an attorney. In reality, he was working as an interpreter in Burr Ridge.
