A mother is charged with murder after authorities say she stabbed her 21-year-old son to death in their home in Lanham, Maryland, late last month.
Cristos Johnson died after the stabbing early Jan. 25 on Greenfield Drive.
His mother, Querida Rivera, was charged and appeared in court Thursday.
Initially, police told News4 they believed Rivera may have acted in self-defense. But on Wednesday, police arrested her and charged her with first-degree murder.
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Court documents describe conflicting accounts of what happened.
Rivera told police she and her son argued in their home for several hours, and he was aggressive and pushed her. That’s when she said she went upstairs, got a knife, went back down and threatened her son with it, according to the court documents. Court documents say she told investigators her son tried to strangle her, and that’s when she stabbed him.
Court documents say a witness in the house painted a different picture. The witness said Johnson did not touch his mother before she got the knife, and that Rivera hit her son before she stabbed him.
Friends of Johnson told News4 he was a kind person and that they’re heartbroken to lose him.
“Cris was a good guy. He just wanted to party, have fun. He wanted to be loved by his family -- that was the main thing he wanted, -- love from his family,” friend Kael Pridgen said. “I used to be with him every single day. I really gotta live with the fact that he’s gone and his mother took him.”
Charging documents say Rivera had bruises on her body and a cut on her right arm.
Pridgen insisted that Johnson was not violent.
“He never would’ve put his hands on his mom. Like, that’s something he was big on,” he said.
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Rivera’s mother testified at her bond hearing on Thursday and said her daughter was a good mother. She alleged that Johnson previously had been violent to his mother.
A judge denied Rivera bond and called her a danger to the community. She’s set to appear in court again next month.
