S.I. Slay Suspect Arrives Back in U.S.

Caught when he tried to buy ticket to China

A schizophrenic Staten Island man who fled to Tel Aviv, Israel after allegedly stabbing his parents to death in their Annadale home has arrived back in the United States.

Eric Bellucci, 30, was escorted onto an El Al flight from Israel last night to face murder charges.  He will be arraigned Monday.

According to New York Post, the disturbed man once claimed to a high school pal that he was with Israel's secret intelligence network, Mossad.

Bellucci did not leave Israel without a fight. He put up a struggle when police closed in and was unconscious, cuffed ankles and feet, when officers carried him into a waiting car.  

"He became very belligerent while being apprehended," said Staten Island District Attorney Daniel Donovan.

Bellucci will face two counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of his parents, real estate executive Arthur Bellucci, 61, and health care businesswoman Marian Bellucci, 56.

Investigators believe his parents tried to call for help during the gruesome attack; a telephone in their home was off the hook and covered in blood.  Their son, who went to Stuyvesant High School and Williams College but had a history of mental problems, allegedly cleaned himself up and fled to Newark Airport, catching a plane to Tel Aviv before his parents bodies were discovered Wednesday night.

The international manhunt ended at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurin airport when Bellucci had trouble buying a Turkish Airways ticket to Beijing Friday.  His credit card was rejected and when the ticket agent told him to return with cash, she recognized his face from media reports and called authorities.

"The passenger looked unstable, he was talking to himself, he looked nervous," said Liron Cohen, the ticket agent.

Family friend Frank Floridia said Eric Bellucci had stopped taking his medication and wasn't getting along with his mother.

"Artie would tell me that Eric was always arguing with his mom," said Floridia.  "It was Eric and his delusions as to what was going on with his mom."

Police responded to a 911 call to the Bellucci home on Poillon Avenue just after 8:30 p.m. Wednesday and found the couple stabbed numerous times.  Their daughter, who recently moved out because of her brother's behavior, called police after checking on her parents and finding blood in the foyer.

Police reportedly had been called to the Belluccis home on multiple occasions because of Eric's volatile behavior.
 

"They sacrified everything for their kids and made the ultimate sacrifice in this situation," said next door neighbor Ben Pistilli.

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