MARIETTA, Ohio — An Ohio man was sentenced to life in prison on Thursday after he pleaded guilty to decapitating his mother and setting her body and the house on fire.
Lionel Justin Gore, 35, of New Matamoras, has the possibility of parole after serving 25 years of his prison term, WTAP-TV reported. He pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated murder in the November 2021 death of Diane Gore, according to court documents.
Gore faced nine other charges, including four counts of aggravated arson, three counts of felony endangering children, one count of tampering with evidence, and one count of abuse of a corpse, WKRC-TV reported.
According to police, a 6-year-old nephew said he witnessed Gore “sawing at (Diane Gore’s) neck,” the television station reported. After allegedly removing his mother’s head, Gore set the body and the house on fire with the boy still inside, WKRC reported.
Two other toddlers were in the home when Gore and his mother got into an argument, prosecutor Nicole Coil told WTAP. Coil said the children “were told to play hide-and-seek,” but the 6-year-old witnessed the woman’s death before Gore set the home on fire.
“It’s a miracle that the 6-year-old was able to get himself and the other two toddlers out of the home before it burned and they lost their lives as well,” Coil told the television station.
When police arrived, Gore reportedly said, “Get out of the way or I kill you next,” WKRC reported. Gore crashed his car into two police cruisers when he tried to flee the scene, according to The Marietta Times.
The Wetzel County Sheriff’s Office pursued Gore and took him into custody on an unrelated charge, the newspaper reported.
According to an arrest affidavit, Gore was hospitalized and was interviewed by detectives, the Times reported. After initially saying he was adopted and that Diane Gore was not his mother, Lionel Gore reportedly told detectives, “I cut her head off and set her on fire.”
According to a report from the sheriff’s office, Gore said he killed his mother because he was told to do so by the Holy Spirit because “she was the devil.”