The former nanny of the ninth-grader charged with murdering his grandmother claims she caught him walking around at night with a knife like a scene out of horror movie ‘Halloween.’
Debbie Gallardo, 55, looked after Logan Mott, 15, for four months in 2012 while his father was at work and says she locked her bedroom door because she feared for her safety.
The mom-of-two claims Mott, then aged ten, had a stash of knives under his bed and says she once found him wandering slowly down the hallway clutching a 15-inch hunting blade.
She said: ‘It was like Michael Myers when he was a little kid in the clown outfit. That is what first stuck in my mind when he came walking out.
‘They are portraying him as not having any issues and it is alarming to me. I knew back then that there was something off with him. He just had this look at times.’
In social media photos obtained by DailyMail.com Mott is seen posing with a handgun and a shotgun.
Logan Mott, 15, was charged with killing his 53-year-old grandmother Kristina French (right) and allegedly burying her body in a shallow grave in his backyard
The teen had been under the supervision of his grandma in his father’s home at the time they both went missing. Undated social media pictures obtained by DailyMail.com show the 15-year-old posing with a handgun
Police arrived at the home to find the home ransacked with guns missing from a safe. Social media photos obtained by DailyMail.com show him previously posing with guns including a shotgun outdoors
Mott, 15, from Jacksonville, Florida, is accused of murdering his grandmother Kristina French, 53, who was shot and suffered multiple stab wounds.
The pair sparked a manhunt when they were reported missing together on November 21.
Mott lived with his father Eric Mott, Kristina’s son. Eric was on vacation with his girlfriend at the time of the murder.
Mr Mott reported his mother and son missing after they neglected to pick the couple up from the airport on Wednesday.
The father returned to find the home had been ransacked with multiple guns missing from a safe and police found evidence of ‘possible criminal violence’.
Cops initially feared for both their safety but the diabetic teenager was declared a person of interest Thursday after French’s body was found buried in the backyard of the family home.
On Friday, Mott was detained by border guards trying to cross into Canada in French’s stolen car.
He is charged as an adult with murder and will be held in Buffalo, New York, until an extradition hearing on Friday, the State Supreme Court ruled Wednesday, according to The Buffalo News.
Now Mott’s former nanny, who took a $350-a-month job advertised on care.com looking after the youngster between the hours of 10pm and 7am, has spoken out.
She was contacted by Eric Mott on the site in January and says she offered a position a month later after the family’s arrangement with a different, younger nanny didn’t work out.
The nanny: Debbie Gallardo, 55, says she was Logan’s caretaker in 2012 when he was ten years old. She told DailyMail.com she ‘knew back then that there was something off with him’ and was aware he had a stash of knives under his bed
Debbie says Logan was ‘well-mannered’ when she first met him in February 2012 but on the second night of the job, a chilling encounter with the boy left her suffering nightmares.
Debbie, of Atlantic Beach, Florida, said: ‘Logan was asleep and his dad had told me to leave the hall light on because he was afraid of the dark.
‘I was sitting in the living room on my laptop watching Netflix or something, and it was about an hour into being there when I looked up.
‘I saw Logan coming down the hallway wearing no shirt and boxers. He was carrying a knife like you would carry a torch.
‘It was a hunting knife – large, but not a machete. The kind of knife you would use to skin a deer. The blade was a good 15 or 16 inches long and the end curled up.
‘I was terrified. I said: “Logan, what are you doing?” He was walking very slowly. I said, “What are you doing?”
‘He said: “Oh, I heard a noise.” I said: “Where did you get that knife from? Put it on the table.”
Mott, a ninth-grade student, has been charged as an adult with murder and will be held in Buffalo, New York, until an extradition hearing on Friday
Logan and his grandmother were reported missing on November 21, but the diabetic teenager was declared a person of interest on Thursday after French’s body was found in a shallow grave. The teen, who is from Jacksonville, Florida, was found trying to cross into Canada in French’s stolen car
Mott’s father, Eric Mott (right) was on vacation with his girlfriend at the time and reported his son and mother missing after the two failed to pick the couple up from the airport on Wednesday
‘There was a table to the left of him so he set it down. I said: “Are you awake?” He said: “Yeah, I heard something.”
‘He told me it was OK because the knife was his. I was like, “oh my gosh.” I went in my bedroom that night and locked the door from then on.
‘It was very scary for me to see a child with a knife that big. I was unnerved. I didn’t know if he was in a trance, if he heard a noise or was trying to impress me.’
Debbie said she managed to get Mott back into bed and later told his dad about the incident. She claims he told her that the boy had his own knives, which he stored in a box under his bed.
She stayed in the job until that May, when Mott went to stay with his mother and says she felt relatively safe in the house afterwards knowing that his dad was a corrections officer.
Debbie, who has two children in their 20s, said: ‘I never saw any signs of abuse or anything like that, and Logan was usually asleep when I was there.
‘I just thought: “This is what you get for going on the internet and taking a caregiver job.”’
Debbie says the chilling incident left her suffering nightmares which started up again last week after she heard the news about his and his grandmother’s disappearance.
‘I saw that they were missing and was sharing the appeal online at first, but then they said they had found a body,’ she said.
Police who later investigated the scene said they found evidence pointed to ‘possible criminal violence’ in the home
‘Even before that I messaged my friends on Facebook and said: “My gut says he had something to do with it.”‘
Logan’s mother, who remarried and lives in Missouri, released a statement after her son was found.
‘We are relieved he is safe and in custody and we just ask for everyone to give us time to sort out what happened,’ Carrie Campbell-Mott said.
‘That no matter what, Logan is our child and we love him and are standing by him to help in any way. We want to find out what happened to Kristina and we need time for that to happen.
In an extradition appearance on Wednesday, Assistant District Attorney Danielle D’Abate told the court: ‘Mr. Mott has been accused of violently murdering his grandmother.
‘She was killed by a gunshot wound as well as multiple stab wounds.’
The hearing was adjourned by Justice Russell P. Buscaglia for 48 hours until Friday following a request by Mott’s attorney, Dominic Saraceno, according to the Buffalo News.
When back in court Friday, Mott can either waive opposition to returning to Florida or request an extradition hearing.