Mother, Son Accused in Plot to Kill Neighbor

May 15, 2009— -- A woman who works at a physical therapy center is accused of having her 20-year-old son use a bat and a hammer to beat to death the woman who lived next door, allegedly clearing the way for her romance with the dead woman's husband.

According to a police affidavit, Rebecca Sears, 41, of Augusta, Ga., told the police that her son Christopher Bowers went next door where Laverne Kay Parsons lived while Sears took her other children to school.

When she returned from school, Bowers had blood on his face and told his mother he "took care of everything," Sears allegedly confessed to the police, the affidavit said.

"Christopher told her that he 'beat the f*** out of [Parsons],'" the affidavit said.

Sears and Bowers pleaded not guilty this week to murder and robbery charges and are being held without bond at the Columbia County jail. They may face the death penalty if convicted.

Sears' attorney, Victor Hawk, said she was innocent and said he was waiting for the full transcript of Sears' police interview.

"I'd be very wary of summaries," Hawk said. "Just like any summary of a conversation, there are going to be nuances of the Enlgish language that are extremely important. If we have five people listen to the same conversation, we'd have five different versions."

Parsons' battered body was found in her garage on the morning of March 25. Two days later, according to the police affidavit, Sears told police that Bowers broke into Parsons' house, staged a robbery and then beat Parsons to death with a claw hammer and baseball bat.

Two people, including Sears' other son Michael, told police that Sears was involved in a romantic relationship with Parsons' husband, and had said that she wanted someone to kill Parsons, according to the affidavit.

An unidentified informant told police that Rebecca Sears asked him to murder Parsons, the affidavit states. Michael Sears also told police that his mother had told him she "wished she knew someone who would kill someone for her," the document claims.

Messages left at the Sears' and Parsons homes were not returned.

Police and prosecutors declined to comment on a potential motive for the killing and have said they do not expect to make any more arrests.

At a hearing last month, prosecutors said that Sears was the "mastermind" of the killing who told her son to kill Parsons. On Wednesday, Sears and Bowers pleaded not guilty.

Sears cried on and off during the proceedings and, at one point, she and her son blew kisses at each other, according to ABC News affiliate WJBF-TV.