Former Buffalo Bandit Jason Luke briefly appeared in court Monday in Kitchener, Ontario, charged with the stabbing death of his father, Robert Lewis.

"He seemed a little too happy," said Cindy Lewis, a family friend of (but no relation to) the victim. Media reports from Toronto indicate that Luke, 25, appeared relaxed and had waved to family members in the courtroom.

Luke, who is facing a charge of second-degree murder, is expected back in court on Friday. In the meantime, friends and family are left to piece together how the relation between Luke and his father could have soured.

"The answer we want is what happened? Why? There's no reason," said Adassa Burey, Lewis' cousin.

"I'm still at a loss. I'm very confused," said Cindy Lewis. "I would never have put Jason in the middle of this."

Robin Luke, mother of the accused, cried during her son's court appearance.

Last week, in an interview with the St. Catharines Standard, Robin Luke described her son as a danger to himself and to others, and recounted his mental deterioration. Within a year, she said, he went from being a popular athlete in Ontario to believing he was president of the United States to hearing voices in his head.

She declined to comment outside of court, other than to state that her son could have committed murder only if he was mentally ill. She also suggested that her son suffers from schizophrenia, although he has not been diagnosed with the mental condition.

According to Robin Luke, on Thursday, Jason Luke visited his father in Waterloo, and had taken his father's car. However, he ran out of gas on the highway, and called his mother asking her to have cab money ready. She said that we he arrived home, his pants were covered in blood, and fearing the worst, she contacted local authorities.

Neither Cindy Lewis nor Robert Todorovic, another long-time friend of Robert Lewis' who was in court Monday, knew that Luke suffered from mental illness, but Cindy Lewis said that Luke's father had mentioned his son's bouts with depression.

"Bob's been by his side a number of times through his depression," she said.

Todorovic noted that Luke never seemed to recoved from two emotional blows -- breaking up with his girlfriend, and his career-ending knee injury soon after.

"He let himself go," Cindy Lewis said, adding that Robert Lewis would give his son hundreds of dollars at a time.

Although Luke was his father's "pride and joy," according to Todorovic, their relationship had deteriorated over time.

"Bob always talked about him. The last year has not been good. They weren't getting along that well. Jason wouldn't stay long for visits," only until he got the money he wanted. The two would argue about money.

Whether or not a court-ordered psychiatric evaluation will be performed is not yet decided, said Luke's attorney, Steve Gehl. It is also too early, he said, to know where the case is headed.