Background: 1800 block of South Perkins Road, Memphis, Tennessee (Google Maps) Inset: Kerrien Dates (Shelby County Jail)
A Memphis woman was killed with a hammer before having her car stolen, and authorities said her grandson confessed to doing it.
Sonya Dates, aged 58, was discovered in a critical condition by her daughter on Wednesday afternoon, next to a hammer stained with blood, as stated by officers from the Memphis Police Department, according to the Charlotte Observer. When officers and a paramedic reached the location, they examined wounds on the back of her head, concluding that she was deceased.
The cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head believed to have been caused by the hammer.
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During the subsequent investigation, police learned from the victim’s daughter that her son, Kerrien Dates, 23, had been residing with his grandmother. Additionally, they noticed that the grandmother’s blue 2020 Chevrolet Camaro had been taken from her property.
The missing vehicle was detected by license plate scanning cameras approximately 85 miles northeast in Jackson, Tennessee, later that same Wednesday. The Jackson Police Department stated in a press release that Kerrien Dates was identified as the driver of the car.
When officers pulled the defendant over in the vehicle and asked him why he thought he was being stopped, he said, “I hit Sonya in the head with a hammer and I think I killed her,” according to an affidavit reviewed by the outlet.
According to Sonya Dates’ daughter, Kerrien Dates and his grandmother had been fighting. The defendant’s mother allegedly said she told her mother to kick her son out of the house “for safety,” police said.
Sonya Dates is believed to have just arrived home when she was attacked, as she was still wearing a backpack and lunch bag when her body was found.
The Memphis Police Department charged Kerrien Dates with first-degree murder and theft of property. He is being held in the Shelby County Jail and has a court appearance scheduled for Monday.
A next-door neighbor of Sonya Dates’ remembered her as “a good person.”
“It is sad to see she is gone,” Tracey Holloman told WMC in Memphis. “She didn’t bother anybody, she did not deserve it. I am praying for the family.”
