Illegal immigrant allegedly used a butcher knife to decapitate his mom

An illegal immigrant from Honduras was arrested Monday after police in North Carolina say he used a butcher knife to cut off his mother's head.

Oliver Mauricio Funes Machada, 18,  called 911 around 12:45 p.m. Monday after he allegedly decapitated 35-year-old Yesenia Funez Beatriz Machado at their home in Franklin County, North Carolina, which is located near Raleigh, WTVD-TV reported.

Two young girls were at the house at the time of the alleged murder but were unharmed. Another child was at school.

Franklin County Sheriff Kent Winstead said told WRAL-TV that when his officers arrived at the house, Funes Machada walked out of the house with his mother's head in one hand and a large butcher knife in the other. Winstead described the scene as "gruesome."

The suspect was arrested and charged with one count of first-degree murder. He was being held without bond at the Franklin County Jail.

Prosecutors and Funes Machada's defense attorney said at a preliminary court hearing Tuesday that mental illness is likely to be a factor in the case. The suspect reportedly took at least four different medications for psychosis and schizophrenia.

The scene was so brutal that the Franklin County Sheriff's Office is now providing special help for the officers who responded.

"We will be offering any of them assistance who just may need it because it was a horrific scene that first responders had to respond to," Franklin County Sheriff's Office chief of staff Terry Wright told WTVD-TV.

A spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed to the Daily Caller that the suspect came to the U.S. illegally.

“ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations  has issued a detainer for Oliver Funes Machado, an unlawfully present Honduran national, following his arrest March 6 on local charges in Franklin County, North Carolina,” ICE spokesman Bryan Cox told the outlet.

Investigators are still looking into what led up to the brutal murder.

(H/T: WTVD-TV)