Babysitter Accused Of Stabbing Mother To Death After He Says He Ate A Marijuana Cookie

A Pennsylvania babysitter has been accused of stabbing the children’s mother to death with a kitchen knife after having a bad trip from a marijuana cookie last week.

Lavrius O’Brian Watson, 26, has been charged with an open count of criminal homicide after authorities said he repeatedly stabbed 41-year-old Elizabeth Bennett Leonard in the stomach at her Nuangola home, then called police and agonized over what he believed he may have done.

“What did I do?” Watson asked after collapsing on the lawn of the home covered in blood, according to a criminal complaint obtained by The Citizen’s Voice.

Police were called to Leonard’s home Saturday just after midnight after the domestic disturbance call, according to a statement from Pennsylvania State Police. Watson had allegedly called the police dispatcher crying and asking for an ambulance, saying that he had stabbed a woman; she was dead in the living room, he said, according to the statement. 

“Somebody got killed,” Watson said, according to police.

Officers from Rice Township, Wright Township and Fairway Township rushed to the scene and ordered Watson to come out of the front door — but he aparently couldn’t get through the front door, so exited out the back door instead. He then collapsed onto the ground, covered in blood, and began muttering about his actions, authorities said in the complaint.

Police went inside the home and found Leonard's dead body slumped up against the front door of the home. A blood trail led from the front door into the kitchen. This is where police said Watson later admitted to killing her, according to the criminal complaint. He told police he had gone to Leonard’s home Friday to babysit her children. One of the children left the home that afternoon, and Watson, Leonard and her 10-year-old child went to dinner that night.

When they got home, Watson told police he and Leonard shared a marijuana edible cookie. He said he had an “adverse reaction” to the drug and found himself walking over to a kitchen drawer, grabbing a knife and then stabbing Leonard in the stomach about five times, according to the complaint.

The 10-year-old child had been inside the home at the time of the stabbing, authorities said. Watson called 911 and requested an ambulance after the incident. He told investigators that he had known Leonard for about seven years at the time of her death and had been babysitting for her for the past two weeks.

The investigation into her death is being handled by the Pennsylvania State Police, along with Luzerne County District Attorney’s Office and the Rice Township Police Department.

Watson is being held at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility without bail. It is unclear as of Wednesday if he has retained legal representation.