WEBSTER, N.Y. (WROC) — Samantha Schultz has known Piero Scala, the man accused of killing a woman in Webster, for years. She shares a child with him and said she’s worried about her son.

“The first thing my son said to me last night was, ‘they took my dad,'” she said. “Everybody has a heart here and I have a child, a child who doesn’t process things the same way an adult does.”

Police arrested Scala for the murder of Cathy O’Brien, the woman found dead in her home in Webster on October 9. Police said Scala stabbed O’Brien multiple times and killed her. He pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder.

Schultz said she doesn’t think Scala is capable of murder, but she also said he’s been using drugs for 20 years and they’re a huge part of his life.

“He’s had reckless behavior, he’s made bad choices, but it doesn’t make him a murderer,” said Schultz. “I don’t think that somebody can just wake up one day and do the heinous thing that was done to this poor woman I don’t care what was going on … you have to be disconnected. Do drugs disconnect people? Yeah.”

Schultz says she knows Scala had a history with Cathy O’Brien.

“He’s a sweet man that has a drug problem and did that get in the way of Cathy’s life, possibly. But again we don’t know that.”

Schultz said no one wins here and her heart goes out to O’Brien’s family as well. She said she just wants to protect her son.

“My son loses a dad still and people sending death threats to my inbox, or whatever, it’s too much.”

Police didn’t give many details about Scala at a press conference on Tuesday. They didn’t mention drug use and haven’t disclosed a motive for the crime yet.