Authorities say a Bedford County man is accused of strangling his mother to death in January.
Saxton Borough Police say Charles McCahan has been charged with criminal homicide, strangulation and aggravated assault.
He was arraigned on the charges Friday.
Police say they caught him breaking into a garage on January 19th.
According to a criminal complaint, officers were called to the garage located on the 9500 block of Raystown Road in Liberty Township and took McCahan into custody at which time he told the officers his mother had been killed.
Police say they responded to the apartment, located at 899 Branch Street, where McCahan lived with his mother, Ouita Paige McCahan, and found the woman deceased, lying on her back and under a cover.
Police say they interviewed McCahan at the Saxton Borough Police Station.
They say McCahan told them he had left the apartment at midnight and was trying to get to State College for work when someone began shooting at him with a shotgun and that’s when he forced entry into the garage.
When investigators asked McCahan why he had left his apartment at midnight, they say he responded saying he hadn’t been getting along with his mother and that she had been holding him back.
When police asked McCahan about his mother’s condition when he left, they say McCahan told the she had a seizure, fell down the steps and broke her neck.
McCahan explained that he then “placed her lifeless body in the living room where she sleeps,” but couldn’t give a reason why he didn’t call 911, according to the criminal complaint.
Authorities say McCahan later changed his story, when he was being arraigned, to say that his mother tripped over a cat and fell down the steps.
Police say they interviewed several witnesses who told them they didn’t see anyone else enter the house during the time Ouita died.
One of the witnesses reported hearing what sounded like someone falling and then later hearing a loud bang, police say.
Police say an autopsy found the woman died of manual strangulation and other injuries.
McCahan is being held in the Bedford County Prison. His bail was denied.