Tracey Zetzsche, 52, was charged with second-degree murder for killing her disabled 22-year-old son Gabriel Philby-Zetzsche in their Westerlo, New York apartment. Gabriel's body was found beaten and stabbed. Zetzsche had been her son's sole caretaker for his entire life due to his physical disabilities from cerebral palsy. Investigators found evidence at the scene, including a hammer and knife, that matched Gabriel's injuries. Zetzsche is alleged to have lived with her son's body in their apartment for days before he was discovered.

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The Enterprise — Zach Simone
On the scene: Investigators from the Albany County Sheriff’s Office search the apartment of Tracey
Zetzsche on Tuesday afternoon after the body of her son, Gabriel Philby-Zetzsche, was found beaten
and stabbed on Monday.
Happier times: A Facebook photo
pictures mother and son above; at right
is the sheriff’s mug shot of Tracey A.
Zetzsche, charged Tuesday with murder
of her son.
Sheriff says
Mother stabbed son to death, lived with body for days
A proud New Yorker: In a photo on his Facebook page, Gabriel
Philby-Zetzsche, shows his pride as a Knicks fan. He was unable to
play sports due to physical disabilities, like a paralyzed arm, caused
by cerebral palsy, according to Holly Tobin, a nurse who used to
employ Tracey Zetzsche at the VanWinkle Inn.
By Zach Simeone
WESTERLO — Last week, Tracey
A. Zetzsche was a single mother,
struggling to pay her bills, on the
verge of eviction.
On Tuesday, she was charged with
murdering her disabled 22-year-old
son in their apartment over the deli
in Westerlo, just months after mov-
ing into town from Long Island.
D u r i n g h e r
short time in the
Hilltowns, Zetz-
sche went from
job to job, always
her son’s care-
taker. Friends
and neighbors
spoke this week
of their close-
ness, and their
surprise at the death of Gabriel
Philby-Zetzsche.
“She was his world,” said Holly
Tobin, co-owner of the VanWinkle
Inn, where Ms. Zetzsche worked till
her employment ended in May. “He
was handicapped, and he was always
going to be dependent on someone,
for the rest of his life — and he was
dependent on her.”
Over 40 years ago, Dr. Phillip
Resnick, a professor of psychiatry at
Case Western Reserve University in
Ohio, wrote the first extensive review
of filicide — the murder of a child by
a parent — which he found to be a
leading cause of death among chil-
dren in the United States. A study
entitled Filicide-Suicide Involving
Children with Disabilities, released
last week, underlines the importance
of monitoring the mental state of
not only the disabled, but also the
caregiver, to avoid crimes like the
alleged killing in Westerlo.
“It’s hard to place that one, cat-
egorically,” Resnick said Wednesday,
though he had no
knowledge of the
case prior to be-
ing interviewed.
“The possibility of
euthanasia has to
at least be consid-
ered. But, usually
that’s done in the
most painless way
possible. It could
have been out of frustration, or a
loss of temper with the child.”
Zetzsche, 52, was charged with
second-degree murder after her son
was found bludgeoned and stabbed
in their apartment above the P & L
Deli, at the corner of routes 143 and
401 in Westerlo.
“He died of stab wounds to the
chest, and massive blunt force
trauma to the head,” Albany County
Sheriff Craig Apple said on Tuesday.
“We’ve recovered physical evidence
that coincided with the injury,” he
went on; while searching the apart-
ment, investigators found a hammer,
(Continued on page 20)
“She was his world.”
NO. 2 THURSDAY, AUGUST 2, 2012