Mother Pleads Not Guilty to Killing Commack Graduate

The mother of a 2009 Commack graduate pleaded not guilty to brutally murdering her son using a hammer and knife in Albany courts on Wednesday morning. 

Times Union reports Tracy Zetzsche, 52, pleaded not guilty to one count of second-degree murder for the attack that killed her son, 22-year-old Gabriel Philby-Zetzsche, in their shared apartment in upstate New York.  She is being held without bail.

Zetzche was arrested on July 31 after Albany authorities found she had been living with her dead son in a Westerlo, N.Y. apartment for five days. The body was discovered by an aunt who stopped in to check on the family. 

Albany authorities said Philby-Zetzsche was killed in a "vicious attack" that included stab wounds to the chest and multiple blunt force blows to the head, believed to be made by a hammer.

Philby-Zetzsche, a 2009 Commack High School graduate, had cerebral palsy. He is remembered by his classmates for having a big heart and always a smile on this face.

The as the news of his death first reached friends and family on Long Island. In the weeks afterwards, an official memorial page has been created in his honor.

Read the Times Union for more on Tracy Zetzsche's arraignment in Albany County Court.