Nov 6, 2006 6:46 pm US/Pacific

Danville Woman Murdered; 16-Year-Old Son Arrested
(AP / BCN) DANVILLE A 16-year-old who told a neighbor last week he had "problems in my head" was arrested Monday on suspicion of murdering his mother after police found her badly beaten body in their Danville home.

The body of Dimitra Mantas, 43, was discovered in a bedroom around 1:30 a.m. by officers responding to a call to check on the house in the 3000 block of Swallow Street in the upscale suburb. She appeared to have been bludgeoned, police said.

Her son, whose name was not released because he's a juvenile, was arrested near Blackhawk Country Club by Danville officers just before 5 a.m. He was booked into juvenile hall on a homicide charge.

An autopsy was planned to determine the cause of death.

Steve Nilforoushan, 31, a neighbor three doors down from Mantas, said he called police after the son tried five times last week to enter his home uninvited.

When confronted about his behavior, the 16-year-old apologized, saying "I'm just an idiot. There's problems in my head," according to Nilforoushan.

The suspect "seemed like a to-himself kind of kid" who often could be seen smoking cigarettes on the front porch of the town house where Mantas' body was found, Nilforoushan said.

Property records indicate that Mantas and her husband, Peter Mantas, 44, sold the family home earlier this year and started living in separate residences.

Peter Mantas declined to comment when reached by phone Monday by The Associated Press.

Dimitra Mantas worked as a classroom aide to special education students in the San Ramon Valley Unified School District, according to the district superintendent's office.

Mantas taught 7th-grade Sunday school and raised money for a dance group at the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Ascension, which she attended with her husband, son and two daughters, said Judith Howes, events coordinator at the church.

"She was a great volunteer," Howes said. "She was just always around doing things when we needed it."

The congregation was "stunned" to learn of Mantas' death and her son's arrest, Howes said.