A 66-year-old man has been charged with the murder of his 88-year-old mother in their Roseland home on Chicago’s South Side, prosecutors announced Friday. Authorities allege that Kevan Works fatally bludgeoned his mother, Daniest Graves, in an attack motivated by a desire to buy crack cocaine.

Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney Mike Pekara said police discovered Graves’ body concealed in a basement room of the residence in the 10700 block of South Lafayette Avenue after executing a search warrant earlier this week. Her decomposing remains were wrapped in a rug in a room hidden behind a bookcase. A cadaver-detection dog led officers to the location, Pekara added.

Surveillance footage from a nearby home showed Works as the sole person entering or leaving the house following Graves’ disappearance on March 27, except for a single visit by a white woman. Family members became concerned when Graves ceased sending her daily morning prayer texts, failed to appear for her part-time job, and was unreachable by phone. Her sister, who had planned to attend Palm Sunday services with her, was unable to make contact and requested entry to the residence, but was denied by Works.

Following the family’s missing-persons report on March 30, police conducted a well-being check at the home but found no one inside. Investigators subsequently located Graves’ car several miles away and questioned the woman who had been using it. She told police she had exchanged the vehicle for crack cocaine with Works and had driven him and another woman back to the house. She also reported that Works asked her to discard two black bags found in the car, which she refused to do.

During the search of the Roseland home, officers found a bottle of bleach, scattered coffee grounds, multiple air fresheners, a bloody knife, brass knuckles, and emptied jewelry boxes with the jewelry missing from the attic but being cleaned elsewhere. An autopsy revealed that Graves sustained 17 blunt-force injuries and defensive wounds on her arms.

Works faces charges of murder and concealment of a homicide. Assistant Public Defender representing Works stated that he has been homeless for the past decade and had recently moved in with his mother about six months ago.

Prosecutors noted Works’s prior criminal history, including a 2007 federal conviction for bank robbery resulting in a seven-year sentence, as well as earlier convictions for theft, forgery, and property damage. When he was a juvenile in 1976, Works was adjudicated in a separate murder case, with his mother taking steps at the time to have him charged as a juvenile and selling their family home to address the situation, according to his half-brother, Clyde McLemore.

Following the hearing at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse, Judge Rivanda Doss Beal ordered Works held without bond pending trial, citing the violent nature of the crime and the intent to obtain the victim’s possessions. Family members expressed shock and dismay in the courtroom gallery during the proceedings.