Ramona

The son of an elderly Ramona woman found murdered in Mississippi pleaded not guilty Tuesday to killing his mother during the Christmas holidays.

Lorne Schultz, 47, who had lived with his 72-year-old mother, Mayme Schultz, was ordered held on $500,000 bail in San Diego County Jail.

Court records indicate that Schultz was killed Dec. 29. Her body was found Jan. 13 near a rural highway close to Oxford, Miss. She had been beaten on the head with a blunt object.

Lorne Schultz was arrested Jan. 29 at a rest stop in Bay St. Louis, Miss., by Mississippi state troopers who noticed the 1989 Chrysler LeBaron he was driving had no license plates. He since has been extradited to San Diego County.

The son also is accused of stealing his mother’s car.

Investigators believe that Lorne Schultz killed his mother here, then drove across the country with her body in the trunk and sold items from her home to pawn shops along the way. Her credit cards also had been used.

Her other son, Phillip Schultz, made a missing person’s report on his mother Jan. 2 after he discovered she and her car were missing and her home had been ransacked.

San Diego Municipal Judge Ann Winebrenner has scheduled an April 15 preliminary hearing.