Two Seeking Money to Shop Admit to Killing

Two teen-agers were ready to shop so they bludgeoned a 77-year-old widow to death in her apartment, then stole her cash and credit cards and hopped in her car to drive to a shopping mall, police alleged Friday.

The teen-agers, females aged 14 and 19, knew enough about Annie Jones to persuade the former Sunday school teacher to open her door by convincing her they wanted to talk about God, officials said.

Jones usually kept her door shut and locked, relatives said.

Police officials said the teen-agers admitted to the killing and were charged Thursday, three days after a police officer realized they had tried to use the dead woman’s credit cards to buy jewelry.

Police alleged that the two had planned it for some time, and one of the suspects, Dionna Beachem, 19, had once lived in Jones’ building.

Beachem was held without bond on charges of murder and home invasion. The 14-year-old, not identified because of her age, faced the same charges in a juvenile petition and was held in a youth facility.

Police alleged that once inside Jones’ vestibule, the teen-agers pulled her knit cap over her eyes, pushed her down and beat her head against the floor.