By Jeanne Sager
LIBERTY — February 18, 2003 – The police say it was matricide.
Jessica Melchick, 45, was arrested this weekend on suspicion that she killed her 80-year-old mother Amelia Vogel using a pair of scissors.
The mother and daughter shared a residence on Willey Avenue in Liberty, and when a 911 call came in to Liberty Village Police in the early hours of Sunday morning, they went rushing to the residential neighborhood.
Liberty Ambulance Corps members followed, but no one was able to save Vogel, who had apparently been stabbed several times.
Officials have not released a possible motive, but they are reportedly looking for any evidence of trouble in the past few weeks or a history of mental illness on the part of either family member.
Vogel was a widow, and Melchick’s two children were not home at the time of her death.
The case is still under investigation by Liberty police, and Melchick is in Sullivan County Jail awaiting a court appearance in front of a Liberty Village justice.