Erik Watkins is escorted from district court after his preliminary hearing Thursday. Ed Lewis | Times Leader
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HANOVER TWP. — Jeremy Brodbeck choked up at times as he testified against his step-brother, Erik Michael Watkins, about what happened inside their Sugar Notch home Dec. 13 when the body of their mother was found in a bathtub.
Brodbeck described during Watkins’ preliminary hearing Thursday on an open count of criminal homicide that his step-brother was out of control and beating their mother, Patricia Watkins, 60.
After Brodbeck escaped the home, state police found Patricia Watkins’ body in a tub and arrested Watkins.
Luzerne County Coroner Frank Hacken testified Patricia Watkins died from multiple traumatic injuries, listing a number broken bones in her face, neck and rib cage.
After nearly two hours of testimony, District Judge Joseph Halesey determined assistant district attorneys Angela Sperazza and Jill Sosnoski established a case, sending the criminal homicide charge against Watkins to county court.
Trooper Caroline B. Rayeski with Troop P Criminal Investigations Unit testified she interviewed Watkins after he was taken into custody.
“He remembered beating his mother, he admitted to killing his mother,” Rayeski testified.
During the 90 minute interview, Rayeski said Watkins was “emotionless” and became agitated at times due to handcuffs on his wrists.
Rayeski said the autopsy showed Patricia Watkins had significant trauma to her head and neck. No weapon was used during the killing, Rayeski said.
Trooper Michael O’Boyle testified he was one of the first two troopers to arrive and encountered a panicked Brodbeck outside the home. O’Boyle said he had to kick open a door and found Watkins on his knees holding the family dog, and Patricia Watkins’ body in a tub.
But it was Brodbeck’s recollection of events that detail what happened inside the home.
Brodbeck said his mother took Watkins to a methadone clinic on Dec. 12 and they planned on making homemade pasties for dinner the next day. After they shared a marijuana cigarette, Brodbeck said their mother fell asleep on a couch and he went to his bedroom on the second floor.
Brodbeck said he was awakened by Watkins banging on walls, and finding him punching their mother in the head as she laid on a couch.
Brodbeck said he wrestled Watkins away from their mother.
“I’m yelling at him, ‘Erik, what are you doing?’” Brodbeck testified. “He kept saying, ‘They’re coming for me, they’re coming for me.’”
Brodbeck said Watkins destroyed their mother’s cell phone and wanted Brobeck’s cell phone.
“He was saying, ‘They’re going to get us through the devices (cell phones),” Brodbeck testified.
Brodbeck said he was going to give Watkins an old cell phone but Watkins forced them into a tiny bathroom.
Patricia Watkins held the bathroom door closed as Watkins was attempting to force it open. Brodbeck removed a window and jumped out, waiting for his mother to follow him.
When she didn’t appear, Brodbeck said he ran to a neighbor’s house for help.
Watkins sat motionless during the preliminary hearing.
The only time he moved was when he leaned forward to view autopsy pictures and photographs of his mother’s body in the tub that were given to his attorneys, John Donovan and Christine Marie Trout.