Michael Brea: Allegedly Used Ceremonial Masonic Sword to Decapitate Mother

Michael Brea, the 31-year-old 'Step It Up 3-D' and 'Ugly Betty' actor, is currently undergoing a psychiatric evaluation after allegedly murdering his mother Tuesday in Brooklyn.

Brea is said to have used a ceremonial Masonic sword, said to be about 3 feet long, to decapitate 55-year-old Yannick Brea after saying he saw the devil in her and accused her of never accepting Jesus.

Brea Found Clutching a Bible, Covered in Blood:

TMZ reported Tuesday that when police arrived on-scene, they found the actor clutching a bible and was "extremely bloody" and a neighbor as having said, "I hear the brother chasing her [his mother] through the house and he's just saying a bunch of [Bible] passages like, 'Repent, Repent, Repent.'"

A taser was used to subdue the actor and, according to the Washington Post, as he was led away by police he said, "The greatest architect of the Universe!" This is a term the Mason's occasionally use to represent a supreme being.

The Brea's neighbor, Vernal Bent, said Michael Brea's mother raised him "... to be loving. She was a wonderful mother."

There were no indications anything was amiss and neighbors said Brea seemed to be in good spirits and normal as recently as Sunday.

According to TMZ, Michael Brea has been charged with second-degree murder. He is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday.

In New York, murder in the second degree is a class A-I felony and could result in a life sentence without parole.

The Michael Brea case brings to mind another celebrity murder investigation and the trial that ensued:

In June 1994, O.J. Simpson's ex-wife and her friend Ronald Goldman were murdered outside her Brentwood, CA. home. Their throats had been cut and their heads were almost completely severed from their bodies.

A few days after the murder, O.J. was expected to turn himself in. Instead, he led law enforcement on a low-speed chase along Interstate 405 in Orange County. We sat riveted to television sets cheering him on not wanting to believe this Heisman Trophy winner and sometimes-actor had committed such an atrocious act.

On June 20, 1994, Simpson was arraigned on murder charges to which he pleaded not guilty. This was the beginning of a long, expensive trial. The trial began in January and concluded October 3, 1995 with the jury returning a verdict of not guilty.

Simpson later wrote a book, 'If I Did It' in which he hypothesized on the murders of Nicole and Ronald. The book's release was canceled in 2006. In 2007 the Goldman family was awarded rights to the book to partially satisfy a civil judgment against Simpson. The name of the book was changed to 'If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer' and was published in September 2007.

Simpson has never spent any time in prison for the murders, but is currently behind bars after he was found guilty of robbery in Las Vegas. He was sentenced to a minimum of 9 years before he is eligible for parole and may be in prison for as long as 33 years.

Sources:
Michael Brea -- 'Ugly Betty' Actor In Custody ... For Allegedly Killing His Mother | TMZ.com
Celebritology 2.0 - More details emerge about alleged slaying by 'Ugly Betty' actor Michael Brea - Washington Post
'Ugly Betty' Actor Charged in Sword Killing | TMZ.com