Police on Sunday said a Tiberias man arrested on suspicion of stabbing his mother to death confessed to the crime shortly after he was taken into custody.
Police said the suspect said he sought to relieve his mother from her suffering.
They added that the man was adopted from South America shortly after his birth.
The man, 27, fled the murder scene in a white Chevrolet cruise and police put out an all points bulletin, setting up roadblocks and using a helicopter in an attempt to find the man. After a short-lived police chase, officers arrested the man on suspicion
of stabbing his mother to death inside her apartment in the city.
Minutes later, police cornered the man on the shore of Lake Kinneret, where he ditched his car and made a break for the water, diving in and trying to swim away from police. It was then, according to Northern District Police, that the head of the Tiberias police investigations and intelligence branch dived in and swam after the man, struggling with him in the water until he was able to overpower him and bring him to shore where he was arrested.
According to Northern District police spokesman, Ch. Superintendent Yehuda Maman, that were never been any complaints of domestic violence from the family, and it's still too early to know what the background to the murder was.
The suspect is an only child and police believe he was alone at home with his mother, 59, when the murder happened. Maman said police began to make their way to the scene on Sunday when neighbors reporting hearing screams from the woman's apartment.
Maman said police have also called the woman's husband in for questioning, and that on Monday morning they expect to bring the son to court for a remand extension.
Police are investigating the suspect's mental condition.
Jpost.com staff contributed to this report.