Man Said These Chilling 5 Words After He Allegedly Killed His Grandmother with a Hammer and Stole Her Car, Police Say

A man in Tennessee has been charged with murder after he allegedly killed his grandmother using a hammer and stole her car, leaving his mother to find her body.

According to the Charlotte Observer, Fox 13 Memphis and WREG, 23-year-old Kerrien Dates was pulled over and arrested in Jackson — about 90 miles away from the Memphis home he shared with his grandmother — after he allegedly told police, “I think I killed her.”

The Memphis Police Department (MPD) told the outlets that Kerrien’s mother arrived home on Wednesday, June 4, at about 4:30 p.m. local time to discover her mother, 58-year-old Sonya Dates, lying on the ground with blood surrounding her, and a hammer on the floor nearby.

The 23-year-old’s mother told investigators that her son had been living with Sonya, but they had been arguing recently, and she decided to kick Kerrien “out of her house for safety,” according to an affidavit obtained by the Observer.

Police also said in the affidavit that Sonya’s body was discovered with “her backpack on, along with her lunch bag as if she just came into the house from work,” per the Observer.

According to the outlets, Sonya had sustained four wounds caused by blunt force trauma to the back of her head, and a paramedic pronounced her dead at the scene. Investigators also found that her 2020 Chevrolet Camaro was missing from outside the Memphis home, and they issued an alert for a stolen car.

Kerrien was later found driving the vehicle in Jackson on June 4. Local police who pulled him over asked why he thought they had stopped him, the outlets reported, and he allegedly told the officers: “I hit Sonya in the head with a hammer and I think I killed her.”

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He was taken into custody and later booked in the Shelby County Jail on Thursday, June 5.

Kerrien has been charged with first-degree murder and theft of property valued at $10,000 to $60,000, the outlets reported. He is set to appear in court on Monday, June 9.

If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.