Man Pleads Guilty To Brutally Murdering His Mother: DA

CENTER MORICHES, NY — A Center Moriches man pleaded guilty Tuesday to murdering his mother in 2017, Suffolk County District Attorney Timothy D. Sini said.

“Taking the life of your own mother is a heinous, cold-blooded crime,” Sini said. “With this plea, the defendant admitted his guilt and accepted responsibility for this brutal murder.”

Christopher Storm Harrison, 27, pleaded guilty to second degree murder, a felony, Sini said.

On Nov. 17, 2017, Harrison stabbed his mother, Joyce Skarka, 53, of Center Moriches, to death in the kitchen of their house, located at 31 Union Ave, Sini said.

Harrison then dragged his mother’s body from the kitchen to the bathroom and placed her in the bathtub with her arms folded over her chest before dousing her in gasoline, Sini said.

He also cleaned up the scene of the murder and moved his mother’s car from the driveway of the residence to a nearby parking lot to give the appearance that no one was home, Sini said.

Harrison then went to a Suffolk County Police Department substation, where he told police that his mother had attacked him and that she was dead, Sini said.

Police found Skarka in the home and she was pronounced dead at the scene by the Office of the Suffolk County Medical Examiner, Sini said.

Harrison faces a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in prison, Sini said. He is expected to be sentenced on March 25 in front of Suffolk County Supreme Court Justice Timothy Mazzei, Sini said.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Francis X. Schroeder, of the Homicide Bureau.

Patch photo courtesy Suffolk County District Attorney Tim Sini.