The 19-year-old seizure-suffering teen who has been charged in the murder of his 63-year-old LaGuardia High School English teacher mother says he blacked out during the incident, and can't remember anything that happened Monday morning. “I love my mom, she was my rock...I was completely unconscious,” Henry Wachtel told the News. “I don’t remember anything. I didn’t kill her, I lost her. We loved each other.”
Police say that Wachtel beat his mother Karyn Kay to death with his bare hands on Tuesday around 9:30 a.m. in their apartment at 300 West 55th Street. According to police, Kay had initially called 911 because Wachtel was having a seizure—then he suddenly attacked her: “Help! Help! He’s attacking me! Help!” In the background, the operator could hear Wachtel loudly grunting. A neighbor said they heard the commotion too: “He was screaming, ‘I’m sorry mommy! I’m sorry mommy!’ over and over and over."
Wachtel's lawyer has blamed the beating death of Kay on his seizure medication. Wachtel seemed confused during his interview at Rikers: “The only thing I had to worry about Tuesday morning was failing my test...“What’s today, Thursday? I should be at theology class at six o’clock. I’ll never finish school. I’ll never get a job.”
Wachtel said his father had been offering him support, but he didn't have much besides that: “I miss my mom so much. No one’s even given me condolences...I just want to go home, but there is no home.”
