Background: A woman thought to be Jailen Lupton seen on Vivint security cameras at Cheryl Edwards’ residence (Vivint/Cheryl Edwards/WKRG/YouTube). Inset: Jailen Lupton (Mobile County Sheriff’s Office).
An Alabama woman stands accused of beating her grandmother to death with a mallet and then breaking into her neighbor’s home, pleading for help.
Jailen Lupton, 18, is facing accusations of murder and second-degree burglary, as stated in the records of the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office. These charges stem from a fatal event that occurred on a Saturday.
Authorities report they responded to the 10300 block of Beverly Road in Irvington, located roughly 20 miles from Mobile, due to a medical crisis. On arrival, they found 70-year-old Diane Trest “unresponsive in her front yard with head injuries,” the sheriff’s office detailed in a press statement. Trest was declared deceased, and a mallet was discovered close by.
The Mobile County Sheriff’s Office conveyed that detectives held interviews with witnesses who described being approached by a woman claiming Trest had been murdered by Lupton, her granddaughter. Another witness provided a more elaborate description of the scene following the alleged murder, noting that Lupton had come directly to her door.
“She’s approaching the porch,” recalled neighbor Cheryl Edwards in an interview with CBS-affiliate WKRG based in Mobile. Vivint security video from Edwards’ residence depicts the shocking encounter.
“What are you doing,” Edwards reportedly said as she met Lupton on her porch.
“I just killed my grandma,” Lupton appears to respond before trying to pass Edwards into the woman’s home. A shoving match ensued.
“Get out!” Edwards screamed. “Get out! Get out!” She then recalled the incident to the local TV station.
“I push her down, and she falls, and then I grab my mop from there and start hitting her with it,” the neighbor described. “Eventually, she leaps off the porch.”
However, Lupton was apparently not completely deterred. The video shows her returning, coming up to the front door, and attempting to push it open.
“Help me,” she said as she opened the screen door. “Help!” After appearing to find the door locked, she rammed her shoulder into it and allegedly broke in. A scream could be heard from inside.
The sheriff’s office said Lupton was looking for her neighbor’s car keys.
The screen door then opened to the outside and Edwards emerged, crying, “Help! Help!” and running down her porch steps. A deputy arrived afterward.
According to the neighbor, Trest’s home was a frequent cause for concern – and she had warned the grandmother what her fate could be.
“There’s always been issues next door. Ever since I’ve lived here, the cops have always been there,” Edwards told WKRG, saying she had been in her home for 10 years.
“We chatted across the fence,” the neighbor said of her and Trest. “I mean, she told me about her children, her sons, and her daughters, and her grandchildren. And she said, ‘they’re troubled.'”
“She’d come over; she’d have cuts on her, bruises. I mean, she’d say the dogs did it. I’d say, ‘Diane, that’s not from the dogs,'” Edwards recalled. “We kept telling her, ‘they’re gonna kill you one day. They’re gonna drug you or kill you.'”
The neighbor then described the aftermath of Trest’s death.
“The rubber mallet was laying right there, and her face was just obliterated,” she said. “This is senseless. How can somebody do this to your grandparent that has raised you practically your entire life?”
Mobile County Sheriff Paul Burch offered one explanation: he said drugs were found at the crime scene, per NBC-affiliate WPMI.
“Typically, meth is what causes the paranoia, which, when she was running, she told neighbors that someone was chasing her – when there was no one, you know, anywhere around her,” Burch said. “And that’s very indicative of meth use.”
Edwards added that “her eyes were as big as saucers. They were huge. Her pupils were huge.”
Lupton and her grandmother were said to have been arguing prior to Trest’s death, but authorities have not stated what they believe caused Lupton to turn violent.
Twenty-one dogs were reportedly seized from the home.
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