Orion Twp. man charged with killing mom, stabbing uncle

Rochester Hills — A 29-year-old Orion Township man was charged Wednesday with first-degree, premeditated murder in the strangulation and stabbing of his mother and assault with intent to murder his uncle this past weekend.

Garrett Lee Roberts, who is believed to have stabbed himself or suffered wounds during the incident early Sunday at his home on Rohr Road, was formally charged in a video arraignment before Rochester Hills District Judge Nancy Tolwin Carniak. A not-guilty plea was entered for Roberts, who has a history of criminal offenses, according to the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office.

According to investigators, deputies were called to the home about 12:30 a.m. on a 911 call made by the 60-year-old uncle, Delbert Roberts, who survived the attack.

The uncle told detectives he woke up early Sunday to the sound of his nephew attacking his mother, Delora Margaret Roberts, 59, in the living room of the home. The uncle said his nephew was strangling the woman and when confronted, went to the kitchen and returned with a knife, which he used to stab the uncle in the left shoulder several times, according to police.

The uncle wrestled the knife away from his nephew and retreated to a neighbor’s house where he made the 911 call. He said he could hear his sister screaming while he was at the neighbor’s house. A few minutes later, he saw the suspect walking south on Rohr Road, covered in blood and crying.

Deputies arrived at the home, found the woman face down on the living room floor and recovered a second, blood-covered knife in the house. She was pronounced deceased at an area hospital. The suspect, picked up on the road, was treated at a hospital for a suspected self-inflicted stab wound in the neck.

The uncle also was treated at a hospital and released with non-life threatening injuries.

According to sheriff’s office records, Garrett Roberts has had multiple contacts with police dating to a April 2013 arrest in Nashville, Tennessee, for marijuana possession. Several charges in Oakland County from 2014 include malicious destruction of property and resisting and obstructing; indecent exposure; and breaking and entering.

Roberts remained held in the Oakland County Jail, without bond, pending a Nov. 4 probable cause conference on the charges, which carry up to life in prison without parole.

mmartindale@detroitnews.com

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