Man accused of beating his mother to death with baseball bat

WEST MILWAUKEE, Wis. (WDJT) - Officials in Wisconsin allege a 38-year-old man beat his mother to death with a baseball bat during an argument.

Hayward Jenkins, 38, is charged with one count of first-degree intentional homicide in the death of his mother, 66-year-old Cheryl Jenkins.

Cheryl Jenkins’ fiancé called West Milwaukee Police to her apartment around 8 a.m. last Tuesday, according to a criminal complaint. He told police her son, Hayward Jenkins, came to the house the night before, and they let him stay in the guest room.

The fiancé said he woke up at 4 a.m. to a noise and checked the living room, saw nothing and went back to sleep. He woke up again a few hours later and found the victim in the guest room, face down on the floor. Her son was not there.

Officers found a wooden bat on top of Cheryl Jenkins’ body with blood on the barrel and a wound in the back of her head. They allegedly found surveillance video of her son fleeing the apartment complex and getting on a bus around 6 a.m.

Family members told police that Hayward Jenkins could be at Potawatomi Casino Hotel, and that’s where he was arrested around 12:30 p.m.

The 38-year-old told police he had gotten into an argument with his mother over silver coins and her not listening to him, according to the complaint. He claims she pointed scissors at him and that he “got angry with the situation and flipped out.”

He allegedly said he grabbed the bat and didn’t want to hit her with it but did, striking her multiple times as she was sitting in a chair. He told police he was “wrong for murdering my mother,” according to the complaint.

In court on Sunday, a judge set bond for Hayward Jenkins at $300,000.