{"id":14701,"date":"2015-03-26T01:43:17","date_gmt":"2015-03-26T01:43:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/independentweekender.com\/?p=14701"},"modified":"2015-03-26T12:37:10","modified_gmt":"2015-03-26T12:37:10","slug":"charges-held-for-son-accused-of-strangling-mom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2015\/03\/26\/charges-held-for-son-accused-of-strangling-mom\/","title":{"rendered":"Charges held for son accused of strangling mom"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"BENJAMIN<\/a>

BENJAMIN BALL<\/p><\/div>\n

BY STACI WILSON<\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite a New Milford man\u2019s early claim to police that drug dealers he owed a debt were responsible for his mother\u2019s death, a homicide charge lodged against Benjamin Ball will head to trial in Susquehanna County.<\/p>\n

Ball, 26, appeared in New Milford District Court Monday for a preliminary hearing. He is accused of strangling his mother, Lisa Ball, to death on the morning of Jan. 14 at the New Milford Borough apartment where the two lived.<\/p>\n

Susquehanna County Coroner Anthony Conarton told the court an autopsy revealed the cause of death was asphyxiation due to strangulation and the death was ruled a homicide.<\/p>\n

Lisa Ball\u2019s body was discovered stashed in an upstairs room of the residence in a large, plastic, hinged-topped trunk that had been padlocked.<\/p>\n

Ball\u2019s attorney, Paul Ackourey asked the coroner how he came to the conclusion that Lisa Ball\u2019s death was a homicide.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, she didn\u2019t put herself in the trunk,\u201d Conarton answered.<\/p>\n

The coroner outlined injuries to Lisa Ball\u2019s neck area, including the fracturing of her hyoid bone \u2013 a horseshoe shaped bone located in the midline of the neck between a person\u2019s chin and thyroid cartilage.<\/p>\n

Pennsylvania State Police criminal investigator Mark Keyes said a friend of Benjamin Ball contacted the Gibson barracks after Ball asked him to help dispose of his mother\u2019s body.<\/p>\n

When police arrived at the Ball residence, the body was not discovered.<\/p>\n

According to testimony from Keyes, Benjamin Ball voluntarily came to the police station, first telling investigators his mother took a walk following an argument the two had that morning.<\/p>\n

His story then changed several times, Keyes said, with Ball alleging his mother was kidnapped by the drug dealers; and then that she had been killed by the drug dealers and that he had been a witness to the murder and that she had been placed by the killers in the trunk in the upstairs of the home.<\/p>\n

When confronted by another investigator about the additional information the police had received, Keyes said Ball remarked, \u201cDoes this mean I\u2019m going to jail tonight?\u201d<\/p>\n

Keyes said Ball then changed his story again \u2013 this time saying he had fought with his mother and that she had been poking him and picking on him when he woke up. He told police his mother spit on him and he \u201csnapped,\u201d Keyes said in court.<\/p>\n

The officer said Ball admitted that after he took his hands from around her neck, his mother continued to pick on him. Keyes said Ball said he put his hands around her neck again, and when he stopped she was no longer breathing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY STACI WILSON Despite a New Milford man\u2019s early claim to police that drug dealers he owed a debt were responsible for his mother\u2019s death,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":14687,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nCharges held for son accused of strangling mom - PS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2015\/03\/26\/charges-held-for-son-accused-of-strangling-mom\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Charges held for son accused of strangling mom - 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