Police: Teen shot mother hours after disagreement over puppy

MASON - A Wheatfield Township teenager fatally shot his mother as she slept hours after she told him he couldn't keep a puppy he had brought home a few weeks earlier, police said.

Andrew David Willson, 19, was arraigned Monday in 55th District Court on one count each of murder and felony firearm possession.

Magistrate Mark Blumer denied bond for Willson, who has been in police custody since Friday.

Andrew Willson called police shortly before 7 a.m. Friday and said he had come home from a drive to find that his mother had been murdered, an Ingham County Sheriff's detective told Blumer in a hearing that led to charges being issued against the teen.

Lisa Marie Willson, 51, was found dead in a bedroom of her home in the 200 block of Linn Road near Williamston, police said. She was shot once in the back of the head.

Investigators determined that no one besides her and her son had been inside the house the night of the killing, Detective Charles Buckland testified.

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Andrew Willson had talked to his mother about the puppy Thursday evening, and she told him he would have to bring the dog to his father's home in Dansville, Buckland testified.

The teen told detectives that in the overnight hours he removed a .22 Magnum rifle from a locked cabinet, then went into his mother's room and shot her in the back of the head as she slept, Buckland said.

He then drove around back roads for awhile before discarding the rifle. Police recovered the weapon, which had a spent shell casing and a live round in it.

Andrew Willson has no criminal history, police said.

An attorney for Willson, Stephen Milks, declined to comment after the hearing.

A preliminary hearing has been set for Sept. 28.

Contact Ken Palmer at (517) 377-1032 or kpalmer@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @KBPalm_lsj.