Strangler Kills Mom, Botches Suicide

"GARDEN CITY, NY — An unemployed Long Island man ashamed over stealing his 88-year-old mother's money strangled her and then slit his wrists in a botched suicide attempt, authorities said Friday.

"James Olsen, 56, choked Ruth Olsen with a scarf-like article of clothing inside their Garden City home early Thursday, authorities said.

"`We believe that he was conflicted over the amount of money he was spending and didn't want mom to know,` Nassau County Police Detective Lt. John Azzata said.

"Details of the murder began to emerge after James Olsen called 9-1-1 about 8 p.m. Thursday. Olsen told a dispatcher he needed `police assistance,` Azzata said.

"Two Garden City cops rushed to the Olsen home on College Place - and found James bleeding from his wrists and his mother already dead.

"Investigators determined the murder happened several hours earlier.

"`He was not confronted,` Azzata said, adding that Olsen was `using his mother's money in his own way.`

"James Olsen, charged with second-degree murder, is being treated for his injuries at Nassau University Medical Center.

"Olsen has prior arrests for driving drunk in 1998 and 2005, authorities said."

Source: NY Daily News...