Louisiana Father Confesses To Decapitating Special-Needs Son [VIDEO]

In the most shocking news to hit our area in quite some time, a 7-year-old boy with cerebral palsy was decapitated in Thibodaux over the weekend. Police have confirmed that the boy's biological father, Jeremiah Lee Wright, has confessed to the killing.

Jori Lirette's head was found Sunday on the side of a city street according to detective Ricky Ross.

We received the call about 12:14 p.m. on Sunday from a volunteer firefighter who was driving by and found a head by itself on the side of the city street," Ross said. When officers arrived, they were not sure whether the head was real, Ross said.

When the authorities arrived, 30-year-old Jeremiah Lee Wright was on the porch and told police that it was just a CPR dummy used for a prank. As additional police soon arrived, Wright was taken into custody, and within 30 minutes of questioning he confessed to the gruesome crime.

While police were investigating, the child's mother, Jesslyn Lirette returned from running errands to a crime scene surrounding her home. She then identified the child from pictures as her 7-year-old son Jori Lirette according to Police Chief Scott Silverii.

Jori Lirette had cerebral palsy. He was bound to a wheelchair and also had additional disabilities which also required him to use a feeding tube and he wasn't able to speak verbally. According to reports from Thibodaux's Daily Comet,

Wright's friend Mark Chatagnier said problems in Wright and Lirette's relationship were exacerbated by Jesslyn's unwillingness to help to care for Jori, who had cerebral palsy and was confined to a wheelchair. Wright was unemployed, Chatagnier said, and was often left home alone with Jori, even when Jesslyn was not working.

The article added that Jesslyn denies those allegations, claiming that "she was the sole breadwinner in the family, working as a caretaker for a disabled person, and was still present to care for her son." During the interview police say that Wright expressed that he was taking care of the child for so many years that he just started to look at him as no longer his son, just an inanimate object. He also stated that he and the child's mother did indeed have issues and he purposely put the child's head in a position for her to be able to see it. Jesslyn Lirette spoke to reporters yesterday while choking back tears explaining that Jori was "the best thing that ever happened to her."

Investigators recovered a hacksaw they believe may be the murder weapon. Preliminary autopsy reports indicated they boy had also been badly beaten. Detectives believe the boy was decapitated over the kitchen sink, which was sent to the Louisiana State Police crime lab along with a box of tools found nearby. They also discovered that Jori's feet and one of his hands had been cut off when they found multiple white garbage bags nearby, including one with the child's body inside.

Wright's only explanation as to "why" he did it, was that

he just wanted her to feel stupid when she saw the head

Wright was booked with first-degree murder and held in lieu of $5 million bond. A department spokesperson said Wright did not have an attorney.

The mood at South Thibodaux Elementary School, where Jori was a second-grader was very somber yesterday being that everyone loved Jori. Principal Diane Smith spoke on behalf of the 560 students saying,

Everyone loved him. Even though he could not express in words his feelings to us, he did it with his smile.

Several Facebook pages, including "Prayers for the family of Jori Lirette" and "Justice For Jori", with over 5000 members on both pages, have popped up in support and out of respect for Jori Lirette and his family in this very troubling time. Jesslyn Lirette has asked for "the respect of privacy" in the aftermath of her son's death.

[via CNN]