CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A Cedar Rapids man has been charged in the fatal beating of his mother earlier this summer over what police say was an effort to steal $50 from her. Police say 49-year-old George Alan Deason is charged with first-degree murder and other counts in the death of 71-year-old Elsie Mae Deason. Police believe George Deason attacked his mother in her home on June 30. She was found the next day with critical injuries.

Police said it appeared she had been severely beaten. She was taken to a hospital, where she died of her injuries on July 23. Police say George Deason was arrested shortly after his injured mother was found, and police confiscated a battering weapon called a slapjack from him.