Inset: Hayward Jenkins (Milwaukee County Jail). Background: West Milwaukee, Wisconsin, apartment complex where Jenkins allegedly killed his mother (WITI).
A Wisconsin man who showed up at his mother's home late at night looking for food and shelter beat her to death with a wooden baseball bat during an argument over silver coins, cops say.
Hayward Jenkins, 38, is charged with first-degree intentional homicide in the death of 66-year-old Cheryl Jenkins. According to a probable cause arrest affidavit, cops in West Milwaukee responded around 8 a.m. on Feb. 24 for an injured woman at an apartment complex in the 1700 block of S. 44th Street.
When they arrived, they found the victim lying facedown with a baseball bat on top of her. She had a large gash on the back of her head along with other injuries. Paramedics pronounced her dead at the scene. An autopsy determined she died of blunt force trauma.
Cheryl Jenkins' fiance told cops they were at their home the night before when her son came knocking on her window around 9 or 10 p.m. She let him in, got him something to eat and allowed him to stay the night in her guest room.
The fiance said he heard a noise around 4 a.m. and got out of bed to go check it out but didn't see anything, thinking it may have come from the upstairs neighbors. He believed Cheryl Jenkins was in the guest room talking with her son. He went back to bed and woke up around 7:30 a.m. and called his fiancee.
After receiving no answer, he tried to open the door to the guest room but it was locked. He entered the room through a bathroom and found her unresponsive on the floor. He called 911. Hayward Jenkins was nowhere to be found.
Surveillance footage from the complex showed a man matching the suspect's description running between apartments toward a bus stop. He hopped on the bus shortly after 6 a.m., per police.
Later that day, family members alerted cops that the suspect was at Potawatomi Casino. Officers found him at the casino and arrested him.
After receiving his Miranda rights, Hayward Jenkins allegedly admitted to killing his mother, saying they got into an argument over silver coins, money and "her not listening when he was trying to express himself."
"The defendant stated that his mom blew off his concerns and kept coming in his face," the complaint stated.
He claimed she came at him with a pair of scissors "like she was going to do something," cops said. He said he "became angry with the situation and flipped out," per cops. The defendant started beating his mom with the bat as she sat in a chair, officers wrote. He allegedly admitted that "he was wrong for murdering my mother."
Hayward Jenkins was arrested and taken to the Milwaukee County Jail where he remains on a $300,000 bond, local Fox affiliate WITI reported. His next court date is set for March 10.
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