Woman Who Chopped Up Son, Scattered Body Parts In Garbage Bags Will Spend Rest Of Life In Prison

MOUNT CLEMENS (WWJ/AP) - A 61-year-old metro Detroit woman found guilty of killing and dismembering her adult son has been sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole.

The Macomb County Circuit Court judge who handed down Tuesday's mandatory sentence said, however, that the punishment doesn't seem to be enough for 61-year-old Donna Scrivo.

"The horrific nature of your offense is mind-boggling. Doing what you did to another human being defies belief. You did it to your very own son," said judge Richard Caretti. "You drugged, strangled and burned your own son. You then over the course of several days cut his body into small pieces and distributed them along the Fred Moore Highway."

"You are wrong," Scrivo told the court. "I did not kill my son."

Scrivo has long-maintained her innocence, despite being convicted by a jury of first-degree murder and mutilation of a body. She testified at trial that a masked armed man killed him and kept her hostage five days. She told the court: "I'm not mother of the year. I have multiple problems."

The registered nurse filed a missing person's report on Jan. 27, 2014, telling authorities 32-year-old Ramsay Scrivo left their St. Clair Shores home and failed to return. Five bags containing his body parts were found a few days later in St. Clair County. An electric saw was also in one of the bags.

An autopsy found that Ramsay Scrivo died from ligature strangulation in combination with a lethal dose of Xanax. Authorities believe he was killed on Jan. 25.

The investigation started to unfold, after a resident called police to report a number of garbage bags being dumped on Allington Road, between Fred Moore Highway and Trumble Road, about 50 miles northeast of Detroit. Bags were also found on Fred Moore Highway, just a few miles from the Macomb County border. Reports say his the body was cut into 14 parts.

As detectives were investigating on site, police received a tip from a different resident who reported seeing a vehicle dropping garbage on the side of the road.

Authorities alerted the media, saying they were looking for a middle-aged, heavy-set white woman driving a late 1990s gray or tan SUV. Shortly thereafter, investigators received their lead on Donna Scrivo from a UPS driver who recognized her vehicle being in the area.

A motive for the grisly crime has never been discussed.

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