An 18-year-old Alabama woman has been charged with the beating death of her 70-year-old grandmother on Saturday.
The Mobile County Sheriff’s Office said they were called by a driver who said they were flagged down by a woman who told them Jailen Mia Lupton had beaten Diane Trest to death, WALA reported.
Arriving deputies found Trest dead in the home’s front yard with head trauma. A mallet was seen near the body.
A neighbor told police that Lupton had forced her way into her home, shoved her down, and demanded her car keys, saying she had just killed her grandmother. That witness, Cheryl Edwards, told WKRG that she saw Lupton running toward her front porch at about 7 p.m. on Saturday.
“She’s coming up the porch and she shoves me. ‘I just killed my grandma, give me your keys, give me your car I need to get out of here,’” Edwards said.
Edwards said she pushed Lupton back.
“She goes down, and I grab my mop. I started beating her with my mop, so, she finally jumps off the porch,” she said.
Edwards said she had been concerned for Trest for some time.
“We chatted across the fence,” Edwards said. “I mean, she told me about her children, her sons and her daughters and her grandchildren, and she said they’re troubled.”
Edwards said her concerns for the elderly woman grew over the 10 years they lived side by side.
“She’d come over, she’d have cuts on her, bruises. She said the dogs did it. I said ‘Diane, that’s not the dogs,’” Edwards said.
Deputies later found Lupton and arrested her, although they didn’t say where or when they located her. She has been charged with murder and burglary. Jail records show no bond.
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[Featured image: Diane Trest/Facebook and Jailen Lupton/Mobile County Sheriff’s Office]
