BANTAM--A Torrington teenager stood before a judge on Tuesday for allegedly murdering his mother.
Nicholas Hulme, 18, appeared in Bantam Superior Court after being extradited back to Connecticut from Sleep Hollow, New York. His bond remained at $1.5 million for the murder charge, and $25,000 for a larceny charge for stealing his mother's car.
Sleepy Hollow Police took Hulme into custody on Nov. 6. According to his warrant, Hulme admitted to police that he strangled his mother, Wendy Hulme, 49, three days earlier at her Torrington home.
Hulme said that on Nov. 3 the two were driving to New York to admit him to a drug rehabilitation clinic, but he decided he did not want to go. They drove back to his mother’s house on Forest Street in Torrington and continued to argue. Hulme said his mother “came at him” and he grabbed her around the throat and “choked” her. He said she then appeared “purple and unresponsive.”
After the fight, Hulme told police he took his mother’s car, drove to a nearby bank, and took $100 from her bank account. He said he then drove to Waterbury where he purchased heroin and crack and proceeded to use the drugs. After that, Hulme said he drove to New York City, New Jersey, Bridgeport, and Fairfield before arriving in Sleepy Hollow.
Wendy Hulme’s body was discovered after her mother, Eileen Clarke, called Torrington Police to report Wendy and Nicholas as missing persons. According to court documents, Clarke told police that Nicholas had an addiction to narcotics.
On Nov. 6 police conducted a welfare check at Wendy Hulme’s home. They discovered her body on the third floor in a bathroom. Her head and neck were covered by a towel.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled Wendy Hulme’s cause of death as neck compression.
Neighbors described Hulme as a quiet, kind woman who worked as an office manager at Positive Dental Care, less than a mile from her home. "Wendy was gentle, considerate, thorough,” Dentist Dr. Alphonso Mack said of his colleague.
Wendy Hulme’s sister, Allison Hulme-Messier released a statement on behalf of her family:
On Nov. 6, the world lost a gentle, beautiful soul in Wendy Hulme. My sister Wendy was likely the kindest person I know. She was humble, quiet, giving, always thinking of everyone but herself. Wendy had been a special-education teacher and one-on-one tutor with children. She loved being with children, loved reading, loved to write, and especially loved her son Nicholas.
Nicholas meant everything to her; he was her life, there was nothing she wouldn't give or do for him. It is extraordinarily tragic that we have lost her so suddenly and violently. My father, mother, sister and children are all in shock, in grief and very hurt by what has happened and we all wish that we could turn back time and hug her just once more, see her beautiful smile, tell her that we love her.
No family is perfect. All parents struggle at times to manage teenage children. If you know of a family struggling, reach out and lend a hand, give them a call, ask if there is something you can do to help. Life is too short to shut the door on those in need.
Nicholas Hulme is due back in court on Dec. 9.
