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‘I did chop her up': Man admits killing, dismembering grandmother, their landlord

By Crystal Bonvillian, Cox Media Group National Content Desk
By Crystal Bonvillian, Cox Media Group National Content Desk

UTICA, N.Y. — The admissions a New York state man made in court Tuesday are chilling.

Naythen Aubain, 29, of Utica, was barefoot, shackled and wearing a mesh spit-guard over his head as he went before an Oneida County judge. According to the Utica Observer-Dispatch, Aubain made spontaneous admissions during his arraignment about the slayings of his grandmother, Katerine Aubain, 90, and their 87-year-old landlord, Jane Wentka.

"I did do it. I did chop her up. I didn't only chop her up, I chopped my landlord up, too,"  Aubain said, according to the Observer-Dispatch. "I killed her, chopped her up in the name of the Lord. She wanted to do nasty things, and I had enough."

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“I’ll chop anyone up who disrespects Jesus Christ,” he continued, according to reporters present for the proceedings. Aubain remained uncooperative throughout the arraignment and had to be forced into a restraint chair.

Muttering as he was led into the courthouse moments before, he responded to reporters who questioned why he allegedly committed the killings.

“In the name of Jesus Christ,” Aubain told the reporters as he shuffled slowly toward the courthouse doors. “She tried to touch me sexually and I had enough of it.”

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Aubain did not clarify which woman he was accusing of molestation. His comments to reporters were caught on video.

Aubain's public defender, Adam Tyksinski, told the Observer-Dispatch he put little stock in what his client was saying. A mental evaluation has been ordered for Aubain.

The defendant was also in a medically induced coma for about 48 hours prior to his arraignment. Aubain crashed his car into a telephone pole Sunday night.

WSTM in Syracuse reported that firefighters who responded to the crash scene found an uncooperative Aubain accosting some women in the area. Sgt. Michael Curley, of the Utica Police Department, told the news station that Aubain told the firefighters he had just killed someone.

His car registration led investigators to 1147 Tilden Ave. in Utica, where Aubain had lived for about a year with his grandmother in the second-floor apartment in the home. Wentka lived in the downstairs apartment,

WSTM reported

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An August 2011 Street View image shows the Utica, New York, home where Naythen Aubain, 29, is accused of killing and dismembering his 90-year-old grandmother, Katerine Aubain, and their landlord, Jane Wentka, 87. 

Detectives found a horrific scene in Wentka’s apartment.

"Police found body parts of Wentka inside her apartment, and her torso and head were found along Albany Street," the Observer-Dispatch quoted Oneida County District Attorney Scott McNamara as saying.

The home where the defendant and victims lived sits on a corner lot at the intersection of Tilden Avenue and Albany Street.

Katerine Aubain was reported missing Monday morning by the Utica Police Department. By that night, however, she had been found.

The elderly grandmother’s remains were found dismembered and buried in a shallow grave in Claysville, about 10 miles from home.

Police officials told the Observer-Dispatch that initial findings indicate the women were both stabbed to death before their bodies were cut up, but that the final determination will come from the medical examiner. Their exact time of death had not yet been established.

"At this point, it's hard to tell what we're dealing with," McNamara told the newspaper.

Aubain has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of his grandmother and Wentka. He was booked into the Oneida County Jail on Wednesday, according to records.

New York Department of Corrections records show that Aubain previously served five years in prison, beginning in 2008, for second-degree robbery. While serving his sentence at the Auburn Correctional Facility, he was convicted of possessing a homemade weapon, which a guard said he found during a search.

According to the National Registry of Exonerations, Aubain pleaded guilty despite maintaining his innocence. The guard, Matthew Cornell, later admitted to authorities that he'd planted a weapon on a different inmate in the prison.

Because of Cornell’s admission, Aubain’s conviction on that charge, as well as the similar convictions of four other inmates, was vacated in January 2017.

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