Actor Michael Brea is currently undergoing psychiatric evaluation at Kings County Hospital after fatally stabbing his own mother with a samurai sword early this morning in their Prospect Heights apartment. Neighbors say they heard Brea, known for his role in the TV show "Ugly Betty" and as a dancer in the movie "Step Up: 3D," (though he is not listed on IMDB) shouting passages from the Bible around 1:30 a.m. in their building at 501 Park Place in Brooklyn. "I hear the brother chasing her [his mother] through the house and he's just saying a bunch of like [Bible] passages like, 'Repent, Repent, Repent,'" neighbor Gregory Clare told WPIX. "I heard him chasing her through the house and I hear a loud scream and so I have my father call the cops, call 911." more ›

The Queens mother who was accused of holding her 3-year-old son in a tub of scalding water because he soiled his diapers was sentenced to 15 years in prison yesterday. Regina Cooper, 31, was verbally condemned by Queens Supreme Court Justice Richard Buchter for taking her anger out on a kid "who just wanted to be loved," in essentially the worst wording imaginable to any mom: "Regina Cooper unfortunately is the mother from hell. The defendant is sadistic and merciless." more ›

The scene was set like so many others of its kind: a 23-year-old NYC mother of two young children was dropping her kids off at their father's home in Jersey City on Monday when she became enraged over his new girlfriend. An argument ensued between the parents, spilling over into the apartment building's hallway. And then the mother reached into her baby carriage, pulled out an Astra Unceta 9mm handgun, and fired. more ›

The mother of a 5-day-old boy left in the Sutphin Avenue F train station was arrested yesterday and charged with felony abandonment of a child. Antonia Lopez left her son swaddled in a blanket next to a MetroCard machine at about 8 p.m. on Friday night. He was found and taken to Jamaica Hospital, where he remains healthy. According to Safe Haven laws, Lopez could have dropped the baby off at FDNY or NYPD stations without risk of prosecution. more ›

The naked bodies of Shakeema Elliott and her 8-year-old daughter, Kaliya Williams, were found in their Brooklyn home early yesterday morning. Cops were initially called to the Nostrand Houses is Sheepshead Bay after reports of a burglary, and found Shakeema Elliott's door ajar. Police told the Daily News, "There was some water in the bathtub and some pills were around." more ›

The Manhattan millionaire mom accused of killing her 8-year-old autistic son is coming under scrutiny by prosecutors who claim that she may have faked the suicide part of a murder-suicide attempt gone awry. Gigi Jordan was found rambling unintelligibly in a swanky Peninsula hotel room with her son — dead of an overdose amidst an array of pills this past February. In a letter to the Manhattan Supreme Court, Assistant District Attorney Kerry O'Connell writes that "The defendant, with her background, had the ability and the expertise to succeed in overdosing herself." Jordan's attorney Gerald Shargel asserts that the DA's letter was "filled with half-truths and distortions," but prosecutors believe that former drug company executive may be trying to feign mental illness to get away with murder. more ›

Now that Harold Ford Jr. is out of the Senate race, attention has turned to another speculative candidate—Daily News publisher and real estate billionaire Mort Zuckerman. According to Politico, the possible Republican and Independent candidate has a lot of things going for him, including a personal fortune and a media empire at his bidding. But the 72-year-old could run into trouble because he's also known for breaking up unions and eliminating pensions at the Daily News, and raising a baby but refusing to disclose the identity of the child's mother. more ›

More than a month after 7-year-old Patrick Alford disappeared from a Brooklyn foster home, police are running out of leads to follow. Originally they suspected the birth mom, but she’s been cleared since passing a lie detector test. The foster parents were a dead end too, as were canvases of the area and thousands of interviews. Even a $12,000 has failed to turn up the lost boy, leaving investigators and relatives to fear the worst. "The boy's not here - he's not here!" yelled Alford’s aunt, who’s been visited by detectives nine times. "I wish he was." more ›

A Rockaway Park mom was so furious that her 3-year-old had soiled himself that she held him in scalding water for several minutes, burning the child so badly his skin began falling off his body, Queens DA Richard Brown alleges. Regina Cooper, 30, "got upset" when she came home yesterday and was told that her son, Barkim Owens, had soiled his pull-ups. According to the DA, she "cursed at her son, stripped him of his clothing and placed him in the bathtub without testing the temperature of the water. She allegedly held him submerged in the water for several minutes while the child screamed, cried and pleaded with his mother to take him out." more ›

Investigators believe a 24-year-old fatally stabbed his girlfriend and her two young daughters in a Flatbush residence, then told a relative he had committed the crime. After getting a tip from the relative, police arrived at the home on Rogers Avenue at around 1 pm today and the suspect — identified as Jermaine Ruiz — reportedly opened the door in clothing "splattered in blood." The Times reports that when officers from the 67th Precinct entered the home they found the bodies of Rogers' 22-year-old partner, as well as her daughters, ages 2 and 5. According to 1010WINS, the bodies were found in the kitchen. Law enforcement sources said the suspect might have been putting the children into plastic garbage bags, and noted: "We think they have been dead for a couple of days." more ›

Two cops patrolling a Brooklyn housing project were nearly shot at by a runaway perp whose mother allegedly encouraged him to open fire. Around 2:30 a.m. on Sunday, the two officers patrolling the Marlboro Houses in Gravesend encountered three men drinking in a stairwell. One of the men, Angel Rivera, 25, was wearing a bulletproof vest and bolted when cops tried to question them. As he neared his apartment, he allegedly tried to fire his 9-mm. pistol at the pursuing police. But his gun jammed and its magazine fell out, much to the dismay of his mother Rosa. more ›

Tonight Animal and Mother bring the mysterious B.N.E.'s work off the streets and into a gallery in Manhattan. In anticipation of the event, the NY Times tried to dig a little deeper into the still-anonymous street artist's life. Have you seen his pieces around town? They are simply the letters B N E, and he told the paper that while they have personal meaning, "at this point, it means whatever you need it to mean.” more ›

The mother of the 16-year-old Bronx boy accused of shooting a rival gang member and an innocent young bystander gave her first interview with the press yesterday. In a teary sit-down with the Post, Zelita Mighty explained that she tried to keep her son, Carvett Gentles, away from the gang culture that grips the area around East 169th Street and Boston Road—where her own father was shot nine times in the back when she was a teen. But at some point over the summer, she claims "Zico" [Carvett's nickname] went from being an engaged student who would "proudly bring home attendance and science awards" to a distant young man mixing with his older cousins and uncle—members of the Gorilla Stone Blood gang. more ›

Meet McDonald's "Mom's Quality Correspondents," brand ambassadors for the corporation who tour the country convincing other mothers that McDonald's food can provide perfectly nutritious sustenance for their children. It's unclear how much these fast food collaborators are being paid to sell out America's children to the fast food industry, but they've been at it for a couple years now, and they hit Manhattan yesterday to put an end to the crazy idea that McDonald's products are uniformly unhealthy. more ›

The New York Aquarium saw some action between two members of the most dangerous species yesterday: humans. The NY Post reports that a grandma from Queens and a mom from Brooklyn "got into a knock-down, drag-out rumble in front of the shark exhibit at the Coney Island attraction, whaling on each other as dozens of horrified kids watched." It all started when Rodine James' child bumped into Rosa Melendez's grandchild, causing Melendez to scream at James' kid. When James walked away, Melendez followed her and continued screaming, finally striking James across the face, shattering her sunglasses and knocking her to the ground. One eyewitness said, "The younger woman looked like she'd been scratched up pretty badly," but she wasn't the only victim, the two kids were also knocked down during the incident. Melendez, who in her final act of outrage grabbed James' camera and threw it to the ground, was arrested while James was taken to the hospital. more ›

Hey, pretend it's the '50s and you're reading this article in a newspaper titled "Who’s That With Baby at the Y? Why, It’s Daddy." Wait, shouldn't daddy be at the office with his briefcase while mommy is with the baby at the Y, or preferably in the kitchen making dinner and starching shirts? more ›

You already know some of Thomas Prusik-Parkin's reasoning for dressing up like his dead mother, Irene Prusik, for six years to cash her Social Security checks and collect other benefits. During his arrest, he reportedly told authorities, "I held my mother when she was dying and breathed in her last breath, so I am my mother." Then yesterday we learned that this man, now being held in lieu of $1 million bail, kept a casket in his home for undisclosed reasons—though it's safe to assume that's where he'd sleep, all snug and cozy in Irene's nightgown. And now it gets creepier, if that's even possible: According to court papers obtained by the Post, Prusik-Parkin says he was just following Mommy's orders. "She said, 'I will guide you,' he told cops after his arrest Tuesday. "I therefore have had to put on her things and represent the part of me that is her in order to fight for our rights and our home." Aw, a nice young man standing up for his mother's rights; maybe this story isn't so twisted after all! more ›

The story of the Park Slope man who dressed like his dead mother for six years to cash her Social Security checks and collect other benefits has captivated the world, with Google showing the Thomas Prusik-Parkin Psycho tale popping up as far afield as Turkey and Russia. Perhaps there's something about the story that resonates with humanity's deep-seated Oedipal urges—or maybe Prusik-Parkin has just tapped into our universal fantasy to live on the dole without our moms' nagging us to get a job. Either way, it gets creepier: The Daily News reports today that Prusik-Parkin kept a casket in his living room. more ›

For six years, 49-year-old Thomas Prusik-Parkin of Brooklyn disguised himself as his deceased mother so he could collect some $115,000 in Social Security and rent subsidies, police sources tell the Daily News. After being busted for the elaborate scam on Monday, Prusik-Parkin reportedly told detectives, "I held my mother when she was dying and breathed in her last breath, so I am my mother." And if you think that's creepy, take a look at his mug shot! more ›

Remember all those times your parents threatened to pull the car over and leave you by the side of the road if you didn't cut the crap? One Park Avenue lawyer actually made good on that threat Sunday night, and now she's in trouble with the law. Police say Madlyn Primoff, a partner at the white-shoe law firm Kaye Scholer in Manhattan, ejected her squabbling 10 and 12-year-old daughters from the family car Sunday, some three miles from her $2 million Scarsdale home. more ›

A 46-year-old Brooklyn mother who posed as a "sexy" 30-something California transplant in order to win the confidence of a juror from her son's trial has not proven the need for a new trial, prosecutors say. You may recall the story: Doreen Giuliano, whose son John Giuca was convicted in the murder of a Fairfield college student in 2003 during a long night of partying in Ditmas Park, learned that one of the jurors, Jason Allo, knew some of her son's friends, a fact he withheld during the trial. So she slimmed down, dyed her hair, and rented an apartment near Allo in order to befriend him. more ›

The police are investigating the death of a 2-week-old baby, who was found dead in the mother's apartment. The baby had initially been reported missing from Kings County Hospital: According to the Post, the mother told ER workers "she had taken him there and wanted to see him," but when the hospital couldn't find any record of the baby, they contacted the police who went to the mother's apartment in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens. The NY Times reports that the mother has two other young children, "about 2 and 3 years old." The authorities removed the children from the apartment: "They were in pajamas and seemed unstartled by the activity swirling around them: the police, the news cameras." more ›

In his first public comments since being questioned by London police on Tuesday for allegedly assaulting his mother and sister, Christian Bale today asked the press to respect his “privacy,” which – given the current Dark Knight media saturation – is respected about as much as Princess Di’s privacy in the summer of ’97. The latest tabloid take on the altercation has it that Bale’s sister Sharon, a computer programmer with three kids, was pressuring Bale for a $200,000 loan in his hotel suite the night before the London premiere. more ›

More details (and by details we mean gossip) have emerged on the Christian Bale arrest yesterday. The tabloids and TMZ have talked to an anonymous friend and are reporting that the heated shouting match that erupted in Bale’s hotel suite Sunday night was sparked by a disparaging comment made by his mother about his wife, Sandra (Sibi) Blazic. Says the friend:

Christian was stressed, but he didn't lay a finger on anyone. Instead, he flew off the handle and cussed his mother. He just got very loud because his mother was saying some very outrageous things about him, and his wife. He has stresses in his marriage He can have a terrible temper. Instead of lashing out at his wife, he sometimes lashes out at people around him. His marriage is not perfect, but his relationship with his mother is in much more trouble.

While in London over the weekend to attend The Dark Knight premiere, Welsh actor Christian Bale was arrested after his 61-year-old mother and 40-year-old sister reported him to the police for assaulting them on Sunday night in his suite at London's Dorchester Hotel, on the eve of the premiere. Bale is still being held by police, but the Guardian has it that he was temporarily released from custody to attend the premiere, do interviews and other important stuff that puts movie stars above the law. It’s also unclear what sparked the alleged assault, but Bale’s mother is rumored to be a huge Michael Keaton fan. more ›

An attempted mugging proved fatal for the attacker late yesterday evening, as a man followed a woman and her three-year-old child into their building shortly before midnight Saturday. The mugger apparently did not know that the pair's husband and father was a NYPD officer who was off-duty at the time. When the man attacked the woman and brandished a gun after they get off the elevator on the 3rd floor, the mother screamed. Her husband rushed from their apartment and shot the mugger once in the torso--a wound which was fatal. more ›

In the wake of the deaths of three children on Saturday, apparently killed by their mother, the Nassau County Children's Protection Services supervisor was suspended today. more ›

The daughter of Daniel Malakov, the orthodontist who was killed on a playground by a gunman wielding a pistol with a homemade silencer, has been placed in foster care. The girl's physician mother and her family are suspects in the Queens-man's murder. Malakov was shot in front of his daughter in a Queens playground just six days after he'd gained legal custody of his daughter following a bitter custody dispute. A judge at the Queens... more ›