TOMS RIVER, N.J. (AP) - Authorities have upgraded the charge filed against a woman accused of beating her 94-year-old grandmother in the southern New Jersey home they shared.
Katherine Schubert of Brick initially was charged with aggravated assault in the May 18 attack that left Mary Driscoll severely injured. But Ocean County prosecutors announced Wednesday that she will now face a murder charge following Driscoll’s death last weekend
With the upgraded charge, Schubert’s bail was raised from $150,000 cash to $750,000 cash. The 37-year-old remained jailed Wednesday, and it’s not clear whether she has retained an attorney.
Authorities have not said what spurred the attack. They say Schubert’s mother, who lives in New York, went to the home after she was unable to contact her daughter or mother for two days.
When she entered the home with a friend of her daughter’s, they found Schubert “highly intoxicated” and the grandmother slumped over a bed in her bedroom.
The elderly woman had suffered multiple injuries, including a brain bleed, blood shot eyes and multiple bruising and lacerations.
An autopsy determined that Driscoll died from complications of head trauma. The manner of death was ruled a homicide.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.