Investigators have not said Alexander Harrington’s spiritual messages explain why his 77-year-old mother was killed inside their Delray Beach home.
DELRAY BEACH, Fla. — In the hours before Alexander Harrington became the suspect in his mother’s killing, his public Facebook activity projected a message of love, faith and personal healing — an online identity that would soon stand in stark contrast to a first-degree murder charge.
The contrast has driven much of the attention surrounding Harrington, a 50-year-old Delray Beach-area man who called himself a life coach and “intuitive healer” online. But the central facts of the case come from law enforcement, not his social-media branding: The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office says Harrington contacted authorities Sept. 11 and reported killing his 77-year-old mother. Deputies found the woman dead with apparent stab wounds inside their home on Monterey Lane and arrested Harrington outside without incident. She was later identified in news reports and a family memorial as Susan Paige Baratto.
Harrington’s Facebook page had an audience of more than 5,000 followers, Local 10 reported. Posts around the time of his arrest focused heavily on spirituality, inner peace and positive thinking. In a video published before the killing, he discussed the need to forgive past hurts and presented forgiveness as part of healing. Those messages became newsworthy after his arrest because of their apparent contradiction with the allegation against him. They have not, however, been publicly identified by detectives as a motive, plan or explanation for Baratto’s death.
That distinction places an important limit on what can be concluded from Harrington’s digital history. Social-media posts can show what a person chose to communicate publicly at a particular time, but they do not automatically reveal what happened later inside a private home. The arrest affidavit, as described by Law&Crime, does not say Harrington threatened his mother in the forgiveness video or announced an intention to harm her. Nor has the sheriff’s office publicly said investigators believe the spiritual language concealed preparations for violence. The posts are part of the chronology, but their legal significance remains unknown.
The homicide investigation began after Harrington contacted law enforcement shortly after 2 p.m., according to the sheriff’s office. Deputies responding to the 5100 block of Monterey Lane found him outside and took him into custody. Inside the residence, they found his mother dead with apparent stab injuries. The agency called in detectives from its Violent Crimes Division. The scene, Harrington’s reported call and what he later allegedly told emergency personnel quickly transformed the incident into a first-degree murder case.
The probable-cause affidavit described in published reports says Baratto was in the living room and had suffered multiple stab wounds. A knife was nearby. Harrington, meanwhile, had a cut on his left arm and received attention from paramedics. During that encounter he allegedly said, “I killed my mom.” Detectives later took him for an interview and advised him of his rights. The affidavit says Harrington again acknowledged killing his mother and contacting law enforcement. Those statements are allegations in an unresolved criminal case, and Harrington has not been convicted.
Later descriptions of the interview add uncertainty rather than a complete explanation. Reports citing the affidavit said Harrington at times questioned whether a recorded voice was his and had difficulty consistently identifying himself in video shown by detectives. He nevertheless allegedly repeated the admission that he had killed his mother. Without the complete interview, expert analysis or court rulings, those details do not establish why he responded that way or what effect, if any, the statements will have on the prosecution. Their meaning may be contested as the case moves forward.
Harrington also reportedly told detectives that he had been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and bipolar disorder and had maintained sobriety since 2007. Those statements have appeared prominently in some accounts of the case, but authorities have not publicly tied either diagnosis to the killing. Mental illness does not by itself explain violent behavior, and a reported diagnosis cannot substitute for evidence about motive, intent or criminal responsibility. Any competency or mental-state issue that becomes part of Harrington’s defense would have to be addressed through the appropriate legal and medical process.
While Harrington’s internet presence helped propel the case into national coverage, Baratto’s family memorial presents a quieter account of the person who died. Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1949, she trained as a nurse in Oxford, England, according to the memorial. She loved tennis, reading, poetry, theater, gardening and European travel. Her daughter described regular visits and Baratto’s close relationship with her grandson. Friends recalled her involvement in a tennis community and a book club. She had recently returned from a trip to Scotland and England before her death.
Those details create another contrast in the story, although not the one most emphasized online. The public first encountered Baratto largely through reports about a homicide scene, while her family remembered decades of relationships and routines that had nothing to do with the criminal allegation against her son. Her memorial says she had survived the deaths of both husbands and an infant daughter. It lists her daughter, son-in-law and grandson among those surviving her and describes a woman who remained active socially and with family late into her life.
After his arrest, Harrington was booked into the Palm Beach County Jail on a first-degree murder charge. Boca Post reported that court records showed the case was filed in Palm Beach County Circuit Court and that his jail record listed no bond. WPBF subsequently reported that Harrington declined to attend multiple early court proceedings. The station said a judge ordered him to have no contact with Baratto’s next of kin. WPBF also reported finding no earlier misdemeanor or felony arrests for Harrington in Palm Beach County records dating to 1998.
The first-degree charge places prosecutors’ theory of the homicide at the center of future proceedings, but the publicly available reports do not yet reveal how the state intends to prove all elements of that charge. The alleged admissions are important evidence described in the affidavit, and deputies’ observations establish what authorities say they encountered at the residence. Yet the record made public through news reports does not provide a detailed account of the time before the stabbing, describe a known dispute or identify evidence establishing a motive. Those unanswered questions are likely to matter more in court than the irony generated by Harrington’s online posts.
The internet material nevertheless illustrates how a public persona can shape perception of a criminal case before the courtroom record is complete. Harrington described himself through concepts such as healing, faith and forgiveness. After his arrest, those same posts were reread through the lens of a murder allegation. Investigators may possess additional digital evidence, but no reviewed public report establishes that the forgiveness video itself was incriminating. Treating it as a proven explanation would go beyond what authorities have said and risk confusing an attention-grabbing contrast with evidence of motive.
As of the latest reports reviewed for this article, Harrington remained held without bond. Law&Crime and Us Weekly reported a Nov. 5 court date. The sheriff’s office had not announced why Baratto was killed, and no reported court proceeding had resolved the first-degree murder charge. The next meaningful developments are expected to come through the criminal case, where prosecutors and the defense can address evidence under judicial rules rather than through conclusions drawn from Harrington’s social-media persona. Until then, the most consequential question in the case — what led to Baratto’s death — remains publicly unanswered.
Author note: Last updated October 21, 2026.