Florida man, 25, is sentenced to 50 years in prison for fatally stabbing his mother after she asked him why he wasn't looking for a job and threatened to kick him out of the house
A Florida man who stabbed his mother to death after she threatened to kick him out of the house has been sentenced to 50 years behind bars.
Nathaniel Shimmel, 25, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on Wednesday after facing a first-degree murder charge and the possibility of life in prison.
Shimmel admitted to fatally stabbing his mother, Michele Shimmel, 60, during an argument at their Palm Coast home on the evening of August 23, 2017.
At the time of the incident, Shimmel called 911 and initially told police a robber had attacked his mom, but later confessed to the crime describing the events in vivid detail.
Nathaniel Shimmel, 25, admitted to fatally stabbing his mother, Michele Shimmel (pictured right with her daughter) 60, during an argument at their Palm Coast home on the evening of August 23, 2017
Shimmel (pictured on Wednesday) was sentenced to 50 years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder
He told detectives from the Flagler County Sheriff's Office the two had gotten into a heated discussion after Michele confronted him in the kitchen and asked why he was not looking for a job.
As he tried to walk away, his mother reportedly grabbed him by the arm and threatened to kick him out of the house, he said.
Shimmel, then 22, said he then 'panicked' and picked up a knife from the kitchen counter.
'She was yelling at me and she grabbed me and I just, l panicked...,' he told cops, according to an arrest report obtained by the Orlando Sentinel.
Shimmel admitted to stabbing his mom in the throat and multiple times in the chest, before finally putting the knife in her back.
Shimmel's younger sister, Ilana (pictured right with Michele) in 2018 said her brother loved their mother but revealed he struggled with mental illness, including autism
He told authorities his mom had tried to get away during the attack, but he grabbed her and 'just kept stabbing'.
When asked how many times he stabbed his mother, he replied 'a lot,' according to the paper.
He also recalled hearing her repeatedly yell, 'No,' and told detectives his mother 'looked so scared.' He then watched his mom bleed out and die.
Circuit Judge Terrance Perkins heard the case and decided on the sentence on Wednesday.
At the time of the gruesome killing, authorities described the incident as a 'very brutal, a very violent and apparently angry murder.'
In 2018, Shimmel's younger sister, Ilana, told The Daytona Beach News-Journal her brother loved their mother, but revealed he struggled with mental illness, including autism, which she believes could have played a role in the murder.
Michele Shimmel, who moved to Florida from New York in 1993, had worked as a medical assistant until her death.