TOWSON, Md. (AP) — A Towson area teenager — who a neighbor says was constantly “berated” by his mother — confessed to the baseball bat attacks that killed her and injured his father, according to Baltimore County police charging documents released yesterday.
Lewin Powell III, 16, told police he used the bat to repeatedly strike his mother, Donna Campbell-Powell, 39, on Tuesday evening, according to the documents. They were arguing about his performance at McDonogh School, said police spokesman Bill Toohey. Officers found her body in the garage covered with a blanket and debris.
The teen said his father, Lewin C. Powell Jr., who works a night shift, arrived home from work around midnight and slept on a couch. The younger Powell admitted striking his father in the head with the bat as he slept, his father awoke, according to the documents.
The father tried to escape, but was stopped by his son. During their struggle, the teen told his father that he had killed Mrs. Campbell-Powell and the father talked his son out of killing him, according to the documents. He stalled his son and was able to get out of the house when police arrived about 10 a.m. Wednesday.
Police and Mrs. Campbell-Powell’s co-workers appeared at the front door, worried because she had not shown up for work. They walked around the house and found the father and son in the yard.
Mr. Powell was “bleeding from significant wounds to the head,” and told police, “Thank God you’re here; my son killed my wife,” according to the documents.
Lewin Powell III was charged as an adult with first-degree murder in the death of his mother and attempted murder in the attack on his father. Baltimore County District Court Judge Norman R. Stone III ordered yesterday that bail remain denied and that Powell have no contact with his father.
Paul Kozloski, the Powells’ next-door neighbor said yesterday that he was “not totally surprised about what happened.”
“Suppose you were 16 and most of the time in your life you were just berated by your mother,” Mr. Kozloski said. “The only time he was happy was when he came over here.”
Mr. Kozloski’s 17-year-old daughter, Maggie, said she had played basketball with the Powell youth and other neighborhood children when they were younger but he had grown shy and withdrawn in the last couple of years, hardly even speaking to her when she said hello.
“When he was younger, he seemed fine. When he got older, he seemed more distant. Recently, he didn’t seem as happy anymore,” Maggie Kozloski said. “Now with everything that happened it kind of clicked.”
Paul Kozloski said he never witnessed any incidents that would have prompted calls to police, but that he frequently heard Mrs. Campbell-Powell yelling at her son about trivial things such as the way he cut the grass.
“You can’t tell people how to raise their children,” he said.
Mr. Kozloski, a former probation officer, said he had seen similar psychological abuse in hundreds of homes.
“I imagine he’s at peace now,” Mr. Kozloski said of the Powell youth, his eyes welling with tears. “He was never violent. Never.”
Lynn McKain, a spokeswoman for the private McDonogh School, said the teenager was a student in good standing. While his grades and disciplinary records are confidential, Miss McKain indicated that school officials were not aware he was at risk.
“We were as surprised and shocked as everyone else when we first heard about this,” Miss McKain said. She said the Powell youth was taking a difficult course load that included some honors and advanced placement classes. He previously had played baseball, but was not on the team this season, she said.
She said he had been attending McDonogh since the sixth grade. She would not say whether he was on scholarship, but noted that the school only gives need-based financial aid.
The coeducational day and boarding school in Owings Mills has about 1,300 students from kindergarten through 12th grade.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.