A 60-year-old Claymont man whose drug-induced hallucinations led him to shoot his ex-wife pleaded guilty to her murder.
Just before 1:00 on the morning of November 8, 2018, New Castle County Police officers were responded to a shooting call at a Claymont apartment on New York Avenue. When officers arrived, they discovered Mary Ellen Slider, 59, of Folsom, PA, inside a residence suffering from multiple gunshot wounds and was later pronounced deceased by New Castle County Paramedics.
Joseph Slider, the woman’s husband, was detained at the scene by the initial responding officers and was later charged by homicide detectives.
During their investigation officials learned that the two were using PCP. Hallucinations had Joseph Slider believing that the television program they were watching was real and that Mary Ellen Slider was a character on the program who killed his character’s mother.
As the incident unfolded Joseph Slider took his .22 caliber revolver and shot Mary Ellen Slider multiple times, including twice in the head, then called 9-1-1 to report the shooting, officials said.
On Friday prosecutors announced that Joseph Slider had pleaded guilty to Murder Second Degree and Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony.
Joseph R. Slider was originally charged with one count of Felony Murder 1st, one count of felony Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony and one count of felony Possession of a Firearm by a Person Prohibited.
Slider will be sentenced by a Superior Court judge on a date to be determined in 2020.
