Natalia Hitchcock: 'Paranoid' Wisconsin mom strangles son, 8, fearing Russians would take him
SHEBOYGAN FALLS, WISCONSIN: Natalia Aleksandrovna Hitchcock, 41, said her 8-year-old son Oliver would have been "better off dead" than "abused" by the Russian government and so she killed him. The mother who is of Russian origin was charged with first-degree intentional homicide and attempted first-degree intentional homicide after killing little Oliver and attempting to drown her elder son Leo, days before, according to the Sheboygan Falls Police Department in Wisconsin.
Police responded to a 911 call from the boys' father Jeff on March 30, 2022. Officers arrived to find the strangled boy's lifeless body and brought him to the hospital right away. Authorities stated the older boy, 11, discovered his unconscious brother on the floor in the family's Wisconsin residence and "his mother was on the bed with a big knife." Oliver died in the hospital two days after the incident from his injuries.
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Her husband informed responding authorities that Hitchcock had attempted to assault him, drown their eldest son and stab herself, according to the complaint. The woman had been suffering from "surges of rage." Hitchcock's husband said he "felt the war between Russia and Ukraine amped up Hitchcock more than ever and that she started to drink alcohol." He was dazed as he described the terrible toll the war had taken on his wife and family.
Today Sheboygan Falls students will wear purple to honor this sweet boy. Oliver Hitchcock, the 8 year old hospitalized last week after being allegedly assaulted by his mom, has died. She is in jail awaiting charges. Unbelievably sad 💜@fox6wakeup pic.twitter.com/foVtIGrUS3
— Nikola Junewicz (@nikkijunewicz) April 4, 2022
It was Oliver's brother's shouts that jolted his sleeping father awake. While Hitchcock's husband tried to save Oliver's life, the mother was claimed to have walked "around the apartment with a knife, dazed, saying she was going to kill everyone in the house," according to a criminal complaint.
Hitchcock was also concerned that someone from a larger city might come and harm them, according to the complaint. Her husband claimed that in the days leading up to the attack, Hitchcock requested him to stay home from work and go shopping for survival items like a camping stove, fuel, knives, and guns. When police questioned if Hitchcock's wife had ever suffered from mental illness, he said, "She does now."
The mother told officers that after murdering her kid, she attempted to overdose on painkillers and stabbed herself in the chest to "cut her heart," according to authorities. She then told the cops about her paranoia, claiming that she had been poisoned and that she was afraid her husband was intending to sell Hitchcock and her children on the black market. The couple have been married for 15 years. According to the complaint, Hitchcock stated that she "did not have control of her thoughts and heard voices in her head."
She feared that the Russian government was going to take her children and abuse them. Hitchcock confessed to strangling her son. "I did not want him to be abused," she said when asked why she did it.
According to the complaint, when officers arrived at the county jail to inform Hitchcock of her son's death, she remained calm and replied, "Well, I guess I accomplished what I set out to do then." She said she did it because she was concerned about her son's future and "felt he would be better off dead." Hitchcock insisted that she "didn't do anything bad to him" when asked about her attempt to drown her older son. "She said that she told the boys they needed to wake up and needed to see what was going on around them," the lawsuit said, adding that Hitchcock was simply trying to terrify him. "She said that she dunked his head under the water to scare him so that he would understand his life was in danger." The eldest son told an investigator that his mother “did not want them to have a bad death and that she tried to kill them by giving them a peaceful death."
According to TMJ4, on Hitchcock's first day in court on Tuesday, April 5, she spotted her "visibly emotional" husband in the crowd and approached him apologizing, "I'm so sorry. I don't know what happened."
Oliver was a student at Sheboygan Falls Elementary School, and police worked with the school to provide services for his classmates. Police Chief Eric Miller said, "We encourage parents of the district to speak with their children and ensure their mental health." Hitchcock is being jailed on a $1 million bond. Her next court appearance is planned for April 7. Hitchcock waived her Miranda rights and admitted to violently attacking her children and stabbing herself with a knife.
Hitchcock's relatives have also started a GoFundMe campaign to help her husband and son. Of the $10,000 goal, $29,798 had been raised at the time of writing this article. According to the family's message on the campaign page, Jeff, Oliver's dad has made the heartbreaking and heroic decision to allow Oliver's organs to be donated. The family writes: "Oliver’s family, have been in deep turmoil over the last few days as we struggle to come to grips with the senseless and inconceivable act of a mother harming her own son. No one should suffer at the hands of a parent – the person whose job it is to protect a child and keep him from harm. With no history of aggression or abuse, we are left with nothing but questions as to why and how this could happen."