Son strangles mom in her sleep, then puts her body in shower, New Mexico officials say

A Las Cruces man will serve life in prison for strangling his mother in her sleep in 2022, New Mexico prosecutors reported.

Dillon Alexander Waller, 31, also will serve an additional three years for tampering with evidence, the Third Judicial District Attorney’s Office said in a Feb. 10 news release.

The sentences will run consecutively, prosecutors said.

Police checked on his mother, Cynthia Berendzen, in November 2022 after neighbors reported not seeing her for weeks, prosecutors said.

They detected a “strong odor of bleach” in the home and discovered her decomposed body in a shower, prosecutors said.

Investigators found kitchenware and food missing from the home, KFOX reported.

Officers later arrested Waller, who at first denied killing his mother but later confessed to strangling her in her sleep, prosecutors said.

“He admitted to moving her body to the shower, cleaning the scene, and attempting to cover up the crime with the help of a friend,” prosecutors said in the release.

Las Cruces is about a 225-mile drive south from Albuquerque.