'I Don't Know Why I Did It,' Accused Killer Said

A Bethlehem man accused of brutally beating his parents—killing his mother—at their historic district home in August repeatedly told police he did not know why he did it, according to published reports.

"I don't know why I did it. I have nothing against them," Michael Lindgren told Bethlehem police Det. Jason Fulmer during an interview at St. Luke’s University Hospital after the beating, according to The Morning Call. "Please help me. I'm going insane."

A Northampton County Judge ruled this week that the majority of Fulmer’s interview with Lindgren can be admitted as evidence during his trial, even though it began before Fulmer read Lindgren his Miranda warning.

The majority of the interview was conducted after Lindgren had been read and understood his rights, Judge Michael Koury ruled, according to The Express Times.

Lindgren’s attorney argued that his client’s mental health issues prevented him from understanding the rights he was giving up, the newspaper reported.

At a little after midnight on Aug. 21, Lindgren, 51, who lived at 516 Hayes St., allegedly went into his parents’ home at 209 E. Wall St. and severely beat them both, police allege.

According to court records, police responding to a burglar alarm at the house found Lindgren walking out—his hands, feet and pants covered in blood. Inside, his mother, Shirley, and father, John Ralph Lindgren, had suffered severe head injuries.

The affidavit of probable cause says that one officer who detained Michael Lindgren outside the house heard him spontaneously mutter: “I had to kill them.”

Shirley Lindgren, 77, a former member of the Bethlehem Area School Board, died the next day. John Ralph Lindgren, 79, a retired Lehigh University professor, survived despite bleeding from his nose and ear and fractured eye sockets and ribs.

Michael Lindgren is charged with homicide, attempted homicide, aggravated assault, simple assault and recklessly endangering another person.