JUDGE

Son Sentenced for Killing His Mother in Bucks County Home

An autopsy found that Rebecca Cope's body had more than 70 stab wounds.

A Bucks County man with schizophrenia, who pleaded guilty to beating and stabbing his mother to death in the house they shared, was sentenced Monday to 10 to 40 years in prison.

Zachary Cope, 32, admitted at his plea hearing Jan. 22 to killing his mother, Rebecca Cope, 52, in their Lower Makefield home in December 2016, the Bucks County District Attorney's office said.

Cope admitted to striking his mother with a cutting board and a frying pan, then stabbing her in the kitchen of the home on Lower Hilltop Road, the DA's office said in a statement. 

"He told police he had attacked an 'imposter' after she ordered him to rub olive oil into the new cutting board — something he said his real mother would never tell him to do," the DA's statement said.

Shortly after the slaying, police found Cope several blocks away on Taylorsville Road in a driveway wearing only his underwear, one flip-flop and a small blanket, authorities said.

An autopsy found that Rebecca Cope's body had more than 70 stab wounds.

Judge Raymond F. McHugh, in approving the sentence, called it "very appropriate."

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