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Facebook killer’s mother says he ‘snapped’

Posted at 4:55 PM, Apr 19, 2017
and last updated 2017-04-19 16:56:06-04

CLEVELAND — The mother of Steve Stephens, who posted a video of him killing an elderly man, said her son had “snapped and turned into a whole different person.”

“That is not my son,” Maggie Green said Wednesday about the so-called Facebook killer.

Stephens killed himself in Pennsylvania on Tuesday as he was being chased by state troopers. He was wanted in the death of Robert Godwin, 74, over the weekend, in Cleveland.

Stephens demanded Godwin repeat the name of his former girlfriend.

“She’s the reason why this is about to happen to you,” Stephens said on a video posted on Facebook.

“I guess he just gave up,” Green said of her son. “I guess he wanted to be caught.”

The mother previously said Stephens stopped by her house on Saturday with a cryptic message.

“He said this (was) the last time I was going to see him,” Green said.

The mother, who expressed her condolences to the Godwin family, said Wednesday she believes Stephens’ breakup with Joy Lane triggered the killing.

After the Godwin shooting, Green said she called her son, whom she described as calm. She mentioned his Facebook posts and Stephens claimed to have killed 14 people. He was a “big exaggerator,” she said.

Lane told CNN affiliate WJW she was devastated the victim said her name before he was shot.

“I feel bad. … The last thing that he would have said was my name and (he) didn’t know me or why he was saying it. And that’s been difficult,” Lane said.

Lane said she and Stephens dated for a while, and had discussed getting engaged, but they broke up and she urged him to seek help for gambling issues.

Green said of Lane: “It’s not her fault. It’s not my fault.”