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Police have arrested a man they say murdered his mother after she flew from New Jersey to Florida to check on him.
The investigation began Saturday night, when Elizabeth Caruso’s son-in-law contacted the Miami Beach Police Department and asked them to do a welfare check on her. He explained no one had heard from Caruso in hours after she flew to Miami Beach to check on her son, Anthony Caruso, CBS Miami reports. Anthony has a history of mental illness, police said.
When police arrived at her son’s apartment building, they found Elizabeth dead inside a dumpster.
"The investigation revealed there was a trail of blood coming from that apartment to the trash chute and subsequently down the trash chute, inside of the waste container," Miami Beach Police Public Information Officer Christopher Bess told CBS Miami.
Elizabeth’s neck was injured “nearly to the point of decapitation,” and she suffered several bone fractures along her arms, hands, face and head, according to police documents reviewed by CBS Miami.
Miami Beach Police believe Anthony killed his mother, possibly with a knife, NBC Miami reports.
When police knocked on Anthony’s door, no one answered. This led to an eight-hour-long stand-off with Anthony, who police say had barricaded himself inside the apartment. Miami Beach Police's SWAT and Hostage Negotiation Teams were soon deployed to the scene. The apartment complex was also evacuated at one point, NBC Miami reports.
Early Sunday morning, officers subdued Anthony using a K-9 and a taser, at which point they arrested him and brought him to a nearby hospital for treatment, CBS Miami reports.
Vanessa Lopez, who lives in the apartment building, told CBS Miami that police asked for residents’ IDs during the incident.
"They were asking for ID to come back inside — we couldn't come back unless they let us know," she said.
Elizabeth worked as a preschool special education teacher at the New Milford Public School District in New Jersey for 25 years.
“She retired in 2021, leaving behind a legacy of respect from colleagues and adoration from the countless students and families she served,” the school district said in a statement to NBC Miami.
Anthony is now being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in Miami-Dade County. It’s unclear if he has retained an attorney.
