Inset: Thomas Steele. Background: Cops in Mobile, Alabama, investigate after Steele allegedly killed his aunt and grandma (WALA).
An Alabama man is accused of using a chain saw to decapitate his aunt and grandma before he threatened to kill his lawyer during a court appearance.
Thomas Steele, 47, is facing a charge of capital murder with two or more victims in connection with the deaths of Christy Deloach and Dora Boone.
Cops in Mobile responded shortly after 1:30 p.m. Monday to a home in the 2400 block of Carolina Court for a death investigation. Authorities found Deloach and Boone dead in the home. Their heads had been chopped off, cops said.
The suspect was apparently in the midst of a mental health crisis in the hours leading up to the slayings.
Steele's aunt called 911 about two and a half hours before her body was found to say that Steele had stopped taking his lithium and was behaving erratically.
He had started "doing some bizarre things," including giving his phone and car away, his aunt said, according to a transcript of the call obtained by local Fox affiliate WALA.
"He says he's just going to live for God and not going to have any kind of electronics," she said.
The dispatcher asked if Steele needed an ambulance but the aunt declined it. Then the dispatcher asked if Steele was being violent or harmful.
"I just needed to figure out what to do," the aunt reportedly responded. "I called 988 and tried to talk to him. He's calm! He's not violent or anything. So, I guess I'll just let it play itself out."
The dispatcher gave the caller the phone number for the police department, and the call ended.
Hours later she was dead, along with Steele's grandmother.
WALA reported there was another woman with special needs in the home who was unharmed.
When a judge appointed Steele a public defender during his first court appearance, he allegedly said "kill him," a courtroom report from AL.com said. The judge removed Steele from the courtroom.
He remains in the Mobile Metro Jail without bond.
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