Letter Describes Murder-Suicide Plot to Escape Immigration Investigation

"If you are reading this letter it means I have killed my mother and myself," says a typed note written by Michael Zaky Bassaly, who is not dead and is set to stand trial in September for the 2013 murder of his mother.

A DuPage County judge has agreed to let prosecutors use the letter in their case against Bassaly, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Bassaly, formerly of the 2000 block of Prentiss Drive in Downers Grove, is accused of shooting his mother on Aug. 29, 2013, in the parking lot of St. Mark Coptic Orthodox Church's preschool on 79th Street in Burr Ridge.

Bassaly called 911 at 12:53 a.m. that morning and told the dispatcher he shot his mother.

"I shot her in the brain … I'm begging you, call [an] ambulance," Bassaly said on the call, which lasted four minutes and 10 seconds.

Yvonne Bassaly, 61, was pronounced dead at 1:42 a.m. at Adventist Hinsdale Hospital.

Bassaly told police he'd told his mother he planned to die, and she told him they should pray at St. Mark's. He claimed his mother said that if he wanted to kill her, he should do it. But Bassaly later said the gun just went off.

Bassaly pleaded not guilty in September 2013 to first-degree murder.

The letter was found inside Bassaly's silver Cadillac after he was arrested. In it, he wrote that he was afraid he would spend his life in prison or someone in the Egyptian community would hurt him because of false documents. He wrote that he was going to kill his mother to protect her from "the investigation."

The Department of Homeland Security investigation, which was opened days before Yvonne's death, was related to forged documents for asylum Bassaly had, prosecutors said during his bond hearing. He was ordered held without bond.

Bassaly was reportedly a law student some time ago. According to the Tribune, Bassaly confessed in the letter to faking information for more than 120 Egyptians trying to get political asylum in the United States.

Read more on this story:

• Son Pleads Not Guilty to Mom's Murder in Burr Ridge

• Thursday's Shooting 1st Murder in Burr Ridge History

• Accused Murderer May Have Posed as Lawyer, Written Asylum Letters

• UPDATE: Man Accused of Murdering Mom Faces Dept. of Homeland Security Investigation

• Man Charged With Murdering Own Mother in Burr Ridge Shooting

Photo courtesy of the DuPage County Sheriff's Office.