Anthony Heaton: Long Island man charged with fatally stabbing ailing wife, 82, over health stress in failed murder-suicide plot

Warning: This article contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some, readers’ discretion advised.

LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK: A retired Long Island maintenance worker fatally stabbed his sick 82-year-old wife 40 times with a kitchen knife because he had grown weary of caring for her.

Anthony Heaton, 74, is charged with murder for stabbing his wife Mary Heaton to death inside their Wanagh home, in what the police claim was a murder-suicide. But the suspect ran out of guts and called off the grisly scheme.

Anthony Heaton was detained without bond

Anthony supposedly called one of the couple's three adult children to tell what he had done after killing their mother. Then, according to Newsday, the son, who was riding a bike, reportedly fell off after hearing what his father said, and then alerted emergency services.

When police arrived at the elderly couple's home around 11.30 am on Saturday, March 16, Anthony reportedly greeted one of the officers at the door and confessed in a "very surreal" scene, according to Stephen Fitzpatrick, commanding homicide officer with the Nassau County Police Department, the outlet reported.

“[The cop is] walking in, and the gentleman announced what he did,” Fitzpatrick said. While the officers checked on his spouse, who was lying dead on the floor, Anthony sat on the couch.

At Anthony Heaton's arraignment on second-degree murder charges, Assistant District Attorney Tracey Keeton subsequently stated to the judge, "The defendant didn't call 911 after he stabbed his wife."

“He didn’t seek help after he stabbed his wife. He left her for dead.”

Anthony was to be detained without bond, the judge ruled. According to News12 Long Island, Fitzpatrick claimed that Mary Heaton's "health has been diminishing over the years, and the overwhelming stress of taking care of her and what comes with her declining health got to him."

“He couldn’t take it, and he had planned to take her life and then commit suicide,” Fitzpatrick said. “He stabbed her multiple times, strangled her, and he caused her death. He then didn’t kill himself.”

Attorney claims 'temporary insanity involved'

As reported by Newsday, the alleged murderer is a retired building maintenance manager who worked for Cushman Wakefield and Met Life for 42 years.

Nicholas Massimo, Anthony's court-appointed attorney, said his client "basically dedicated his life to taking care of his wife". "I believe there might be some kind of temporary insanity involved.”

Massimo claimed he spoke with the couple's son, who informed him that the only indication of problems in the house was "pressure" brought on by his mother's illness.

“It’s a really tragic situation,” the lawyer said. “It does not appear there was any issue between them until this alleged incident.”

The Oakland Avenue house had no history of domestic abuse, according to the police.

Nicola Arteca, a local, described the event as "completely shocking" to News12. “Not something we’ve ever expected to happen in a neighborhood, to happen in this neighborhood.”

Tony Rivera, a different neighbor, reported that he recently saw Anthony and that nothing seemed out of the ordinary. “He was out doing gardening in the yard,” Rivera said. “I said, ‘Hi.’ Didn’t seem like anything out of the ordinary.”