Mother and son charged in murder of Cummings
By FELICE E. KRYCIA
associate editor The Sun
Eva Cummings and Luke Wright of North Collins have been charged in connection of the death of 23-year-old Laura Cummings of North Collins.
On Saturday, Jan. 30, Eva Cummings, the victim’s mother, was charged with second degree murder, a class A-1 felony and Wright, the victim’s half-brother, was charged with first degree assault, a class B felony.
According to Erie County Sheriff’s Captain Ronald Kenyon, at about 4:18 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 21 they received a call from a family member that the victim was on the floor of the bathroom in the apartment she shared with her mother and siblings and was unresponsive.
When they responded to the call they found the victim was dead at the scene.
An autopsy by Chief Medical Examiner Dr. James Woytash on Friday, Jan. 22 showed that Cummings had died from suffocation and that there were thermal burns to her face and that there was evidence of blunt force trauma.
“This was a horrific situation,” said Kenyon. “Our investigation shows a history of physical abuse to Laura that goes back to 1995, since she was about 8 years old.”
According to Kenyon, Eva Cummings’ charges are in relation to the suffocation of Laura and Wright’s charges are in relation to the thermal burns. Charges are pending in relation to the blunt force trauma.
“In all the years I have been in law enforcement, I have never seen anything like this,” said Kenyon.
Kenyon credits detectives Dennis Fitzgibbon, John Graham, Gregory McCarthy and Matthew Noecker with working non-stop on the case to get it solved.
“They were working almost around the clock, talking to everyone and checking out everything,” said Kenyon.
This includes conversations with Child Protection Services, based on other family members telling police there was a history of Laura being physically abused by the mother and complaints being filed with the agency.
“We are working with CPS to get more information and additional charges may be filed later,” said Kenyon, who added that Laura did have some physical and mental handicaps and would probably have been unable to protect herself from this type of abuse.
Both the 51-year-old Eva Cummings and the 31-year-old Wright appeared in front of Village of North Collins Justice John Stevens last Saturday (Jan. 30) and were sent to the Erie County Holding Center without bail.
The two were scheduled to appear back at the North Collins Village Court for a felony hearing today (Thursday, Feb. 4.)
The hearing could be waived, which would send the case to the grand jury because it is a felony, Kenyon said.
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