Son Fatally Stabs Mother, Will Spend Up To Life In Prison: DA

CENTER MORICHES, NY — A Center Moriches man was sentenced to between 25 years and life in prison for stabbing and killing his mother in 2017 in a "heinous murder", Suffolk County District Attorney Tim Sini said.

Christopher Storm Harrison, 27, was convicted by a jury on June 7 of 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.

“Mr. Harrison not only brutally murdered his own mother in the home they shared, but he then took clear steps to try to conceal the crime and avoid taking responsibility,” Sini said. “This was a very difficult, tragic case, but Assistant District Attorney Frank Schroeder did an excellent job presenting the facts at trial. Mr. Harrison was rightfully convicted by a jury of his peers and will now spend up to life in prison for this heinous murder.”

The trial began on May 20; the jury returned a verdict of guilty on June 7, Sini said.

Harrison was sentenced Monday by Suffolk County Supreme Court Justice Timothy Mazzei; the case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Francis X. Schroeder of the homicide bureau.