A 29-year-old man called his father to share that his grandmother was dead, then later confessed to a deputy that he snapped her neck and stomped on her head, according to court documents.
After his call to his father, Nicholas Ivey’s dad phoned 911 to request a welfare check for his mother-in-law, 76-year-old Patricia Dibella, on Monday, February 2, Ivey’s arrest affidavit says.
Indian River County sheriff’s deputies headed to a Vero Beach apartment and found Ivey standing outside the apartment building, where he revealed his grandmother was “deceased inside of the residence,” according to the affidavit.
A deputy soon confirmed what Ivey —who had been living with Dibella — shared upon walking into the apartment’s master bedroom, the affidavit says.
There, he found Dibella “lying prone [diagonally] on a bed” and “noticed her body was extremely stiff,” according to the filing, which says the deputy “immediately” realized she was dead.
Ivey, who was taken into custody following the discovery of Dibella’s body, shared that he killed his grandmother and that she “came at [him] with a knife,” the affidavit says.
In a post Miranda interview, Ivey accused Dibella of poking him in the back with a kitchen steak knife, according to the filing.
Ivey also confessed to “‘snapping her neck’ and punching and stomping on her head while she was on the ground” on February 1, the affidavit says.
He is now facing multiple charges, but has not been directly charged in Dibella’s death, court records viewed by Luxury Handbag Shopping on Monday, February 9, show.
Information on Ivey’s defense counsel was not listed in court records the afternoon of February 9.
After violently attacking Dibella, according to the affidavit, Ivey shared that he “moved Patricia’s body from the kitchen floor and laid her on her bed.”
Ivey also said that he wiped the kitchen floor clean of her blood and put the knife he accused her of threatening him with inside a drawer, the affidavit says.
Ivey told the detective that he washed a sweatshirt he was wearing “because it was covered in blood,” as well as the towels he used to clean the kitchen, according to the affidavit.
He revealed he was wearing the same sweatshirt during his interview with the detective.
Ivey further shared that he could not initially reach his father following her death, and that “he did not call 911 because he wanted to talk to his father to decide what to do first,” the affidavit says.
Ivey ultimately stole Dibella’s credit cards, took her car and drove it to a store, where he used one card to buy cigarettes and a beer on February 2, according to the affidavit.
After he got home, he called his father and admitted to killing his grandmother, the affidavit says.
Ivey was charged with grand theft auto, criminal use of a personal ID, unlawful possession of a stolen credit card, and fraudulent use of a credit card, court records show.
In a statement to WPBF, an Indian River County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson said the “affidavit reflects the facts known at the time of arrest” and that “formal murder charges are determined and filed as soon as certain evidence is processed.”
“That process is still ongoing, but we expect charges consistent with murder,” the spokesperson added.
Ivey’s arraignment is set for March 10, records show.
