Testimony Monday revealed that Ruth Pyne's husband was having an affair and considering divorce in the months before the mentally ill woman was killed, the Detroit Free Press reported.
Jeffrey Pyne, a 22-year-old former University of Michigan student, is charged in the May 2011 bludgeoning of his mother. Police allege Pyne killed his mother in the family’s Highland Township home after becoming angry about her mental illness.
The former girlfriend of Jeffrey Pyne's father testified that Bernard Pyne was contemplating divorce because his wife would not take her medication to control her bipolar disorder or schizophrenia, the report said.
Jeffrey Pyne's former girlfriend also testified Monday that the mother was hoarding knives in her headboard and that Jeffrey was emotional about his mother, the Free Press said.
Pyne, a former high school valedictorian at West Highland Christian Academy, has maintained his innocence.