A deranged addict had been stealing drug money from his 76-year-old mom for months before he beat her to death with a skateboard — which was found next to her body with a meth pipe, prosecutors said.
Wei Hou, 41, who was busted by US Marshals at an upstate motel on Christmas Eve after the shocking Dec. 18 bludgeoning death of Zhu Hou inside her Lower East Side apartment, finally faced a judge in Manhattan Wednesday and was arraigned on murder charges in the case.
The Manhattan District Attorneys Office said Hou’s oldest son made the grisly discovery.
“When he entered the apartment he saw the victim’s body covered with blankets lying on the floor,” Assistant District Attorney Taylor Holland said during the proceedings. “The defendant’s electric skateboard was on top of the body and appeared to have blood on it.
“The defendant was in the room with the body, sitting on a bed, when his brother came in,” Holland said. “Next to him was a meth pipe with residue on it, as well as the victim’s keys. The defendant fled that apartment before his brother could stop him.”
Prosecutors said the accused killer reached out to his estranged wife, who lives in upstate New York and bought him a train ticket to Albany, where she hid him by moving him around three separate motels.
US marshals caught up with Hou at the Castle Inn motel in Schodack just south of the state capitol on Dec. 24 following a brief standoff that sent the accused killer to the hospital, authorities said.
Hou remained hospitalized but was finally arraigned and ordered held without bail.
According to prosecutors, the troubled son had moved in with his mom two months before the murder, and the two argued frequently after she accused him of stealing from her to buy drugs.
Prior to his mother’s death, Hou broke down her door in a rage.
His older brother arrived at the Knickerbocker Village apartment on the afternoon of Dec. 18 to fix the door, but then left, the DA’s office said.
Surveillance video footage captured Hou leaving the building around 5:30 p.m. and returning shortly before 8:20 p.m. wearing a mask — and left again around 10:45 a.m. on Dec. 19 carryings bags.
That night, the older brother arrived at the apartment after he was unable to reach their mother by telephone and walked in on Hou next to their mother’s body, prosecutors said.
“This is a strong case where the defendant brutally murdered his elderly mother, beating her so badly with a skateboard that he broke nearly all of her ribs as well as her spine,” Holland told the judge.
The Post reported this week that Hou was busted on a felony drug rap in June but dodged serious jail time by agreeing to attend a 90-day drug treatment program that had him back on the streets.
