KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - A Kansas City, Missouri, man is charged with second-degree murder after allegedly killing his sister in front of three of her grandchildren.
Relatives told the Kansas City Star that 63-year-old James E. Reed suffers from mental illness. He is jailed on $250,000 bond.
Police say 58-year-old Jamie Abernathy was found Sunday night severely injured on the porch of her home. She had been beaten. She died later from her injuries.
Reed was charged Monday. Police say Reed was uncooperative when officers arrived and they had to use a stun gun to detain him.
The 85-year-old mother of the victim and the suspect also was injured and was taken to a hospital.
A police report says Reed began beating Abernathy after she accused him of stealing cigarettes.