MARIETTA, Ohio (WJW)– A southern Ohio man is accused of killing his adoptive mother because he claimed the Holy Spirit told him she was the devil.
Lionel J. Gore, 34, is charged with murder in the death of Diane Gore. It happened at a home in New Matamoras on Nov. 5.
A 6-year-old boy told detectives he witnessed his uncle sawing his grandmother’s neck with a knife, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office said in court documents. Lionel Gore set the house on fire and the boy eventually had to crawl out to escape the smoke.
When the victim’s sister arrived at the house, she found Lionel Gore covered in blood and yelling, “Get out of the way or I’ll kill you next.” The woman tried to get inside, but couldn’t because of the flames. Meanwhile, Gore fled.
Firefighters extinguished the blaze and found the body of Diane Gore in an upstairs bedroom. She had been decapitated.
Wetzel County Sheriff’s deputies spotted Lionel Gore’s vehicle and chased him. Court documents said he hit two sheriff’s vehicles before he was taken into custody.
Detectives interviewed Lionel Gore while he was at the hospital. He said, “I cut her head off and set her on fire,” according to the sheriff’s office. He told investigators he killed his mother because the Holy Spirit told him to do it and that she was the devil.