What to Know
- Janie Dawson's daughter discovered her naked, beaten and unable to move inside her bedroom on March 9, police say.
- Dawson spent two weeks in the hospital before she died of her injuries. She was 86 years old.
- Police say Dawson's 25-year-old grandson beat her to death and was arrested and charged with her murder this week.
A Philadelphia man stands accused of beating his 86-year-old grandmother to death and assaulting his 62-year-old aunt at their home in the city's Swampoodle neighborhood, police said Thursday.
Homicide detectives arrested Nathaniel McFadden, 25, of Huntingdon Street near 18th in North Philadelphia, Wednesday for allegedly beating his grandmother, Janie Dawson, to death and also assaulting his aunt inside Dawson's home on Judson Street near Cambria in March.
Police discovered the beatings on March 9 when Dawson's daughter called 9-1-1 after she found her mother naked and lying on her bedroom floor, unable to get up, authorities said. Dawson spent the next two weeks at Presbyterian Medical Center, where she died of her injuries on March 23, police said. Her cause of death was blunt-force trauma.
McFadden also beat his aunt, police said, but she was not injured badly enough to seek medical treatment.
It's unclear what sparked the beating, but police said their investigation eventually led them to McFadden, who they say assaulted both women on March 8. McFadden faces charges including homicide and assault.
