Mother 'set alight her autistic 4-year-old son after tying him up with 7 belts'

A mother has been charged with the murder of her four-year-old autistic son who was allegedly set alight after being bound with belts in her home.

Criminal charges have been filed against 23-year-old Amelia Di Stasio who allegedly killed her only son at an apartment building in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on 28 September this year.

Di Stasio faces life imprisonment after being charged with first degree intentional homicide of Antonio Di Stasio, whose lifeless body was dragged from the building at 17th Street and Grant Street.

Fox News obtained a criminal complaint which outlined the allegations against Amelia.

The document said that around 7.30am the Milwaukee Fire Department was dispatched after reports of "smoke" coming from the property which Amelia moved in two months prior.

On arrival, firefighters found a lifeless child in the bathroom with his hands bound behind his back with several belts and a garbage bag over his head.

"The majority of his body was burned," the complaint says.

An investigation revealed that the victim's body had been set on fire before his death with the use of an unidentified accelerant and a bottle of canola cooking oil nearby

Also in the flat was a pet guinea pig that had been drowned and a smoke detector had been removed and placed in water, the complaint says.

The document said that neighbours heard "a banging noise" coming from Amelia's apartment unit on the day of the fire and another neighbour saw a woman, that looked "frazzled", jump from the window of the building.

Amelia was arrested later that day, and the criminal complaint said that she had approached a couple at a bus stop whilst crying and asked if they knew a pastor.

She allegedly told them "I did something really bad" and she had "never did nothing like that before."

Before the crime, Amelia has searched for "how do canabals (sic) die" and "how to kill a canabal (sic)" and visited a message board dedicated to a "horror survival game".

In the online game players fight cannibals and the message board recommended the first way to kill a cannibal was "with fire" and that cannibals "like to bathe in oil."