A tragic murder has a very gruesome twist. Omar Mark Pettigen from West Oakland, California, admitted to police that he shot his mother, Nailah Pettigen, 64. In addition to killing his mother, he then cut open her chest, took out her heart and masturbated as a sexual release, according to court documents.
When police arrived and arrested Pettigen, he told the officers at the scene that he felt good. Police stated that they found his mother’s bloody, disemboweled body in her bedroom. Pettigen’s father, who lives in New Mexico, called police to do a welfare check on his wife after not hearing from her or his son. According to the medical examiner, Nailah Pettigen was shot at least seven times and sliced from her neck down to her cervix with her panties around her ankles.
When Omar Pettigen was asked why he committed the murder, according to police, he stated that he felt his mother was addicted to oxycodone, after having hip and knee surgery. Pettigen said he and his mother got into an argument and she pointed a gun at him and that’s when he grabbed a hammer and knocked the gun from her hand. He then left the room, got a tomahawk and hit his mother in the head and picked up the gun. Pettigen then stated he shot her four times in the back before getting a knife and slicing open her chest. He took out her heart then placed it back into her body and masturbated. He is quoted as saying he “needed to be with himself and needed a release after the event.”
Pettigen then left his mother’s home and went out for beers with friends at a San Francisco bar. After he finished drinking, he booked a flight to Chicago; however, police were able to arrest him in Kensington, CA. He now faces charges of murder and desecration of human remains and was ordered held without bail.
Nailah Pettigen was a retired high school math teacher that was beloved by her former students and co-workers. A candlelight vigil was held by friends and family in her remembrance.
