'I'm Going To Play Dead': Paxton Mother Recalls Vicious Hammer Attack, Allegedly By Son
PAXTON (CBS) – One of her sons is dead, and another is charged with his murder. Leticia Asia is trying to heal and figure out what happened.
Police say her son, 24-year-old Alexander Asia, went on a deadly rampage the night of December 2nd, attacking his entire family with a hammer inside their home on Monticello Drive in Paxton.
His mother remembers walking up the stairs, seeing him, and saying "Why are you standing that way and why are you holding a hammer in your hand?"
In an interview only with WBZ, Leticia Asia said her son then viciously attacked her with a hammer. When she thought she was going to die, she began to pray.
"I'm going to pretend to be dead," she said. "I'm going to play dead. That was my prayer. And please, let him believe that I died."
After what she estimates was 20 minutes, she said her son put a bag on her head and dragged her motionless body into a bedroom. When he was out of sight, she stood up, bloodied and barefoot, and staggered to a neighbor's home.
"Please call 9-1-1 for me," she told her neighbor. "My son is killing everybody in the house."
Asia doesn't remember anything more until she woke up in a hospital nearly a week later. That's when she was told her other son, 23-year-old Innocent Asia, didn't survive the attack. "It was like…it was like a dream," she said. "I didn't even grasp it. I didn't get it."
Leticia suffered fractured cheekbones, bruising, broken vertebrae, and severe head trauma. She underwent several surgeries and was only released from the hospital in early February.
Her son Alexander now sits in a psychiatric ward, charged with his brother's murder and the assault of his other family members. His mother says he's suffered with mental health issues for years, but refused to get help. "I tried to get him help," she said. "But by then he was already 18."
After years of calling the police on their brother, Alexander Asia's family was taking a drastic step in December: evicting him from their home in the hopes he would get help. Instead, his mother believes that made him snap.
Leticia Asia moved to a new home, several towns from the Paxton home where her son was allegedly murdered. She's essentially lost two sons, and hopes her family's pain could change laws surrounding involuntary mental health treatment, and increase access for struggling families.
An online fundraising page has been created to support the Asia family.
