Authorities say an Alabama man charged with murder this weekend beat his mother to death following an argument about his college grades, CNN reports.

According to police, 45-year-old Sherry Ann Blansit was found dead of apparent blunt force trauma on Friday after a 911 call from her son, 22-year-old Tyler Ryan Blansit. From AL.com:

DeKalb County Sheriff Jimmy Harris reported on Saturday that Blansit later confessed that he struck his mother in the head. He said they had been arguing about his grades at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

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Mentone Police Chief Brad Gregg described the crime scene as “brutal” and that Sherry Blansit was found behind the home. He said a baseball bat that officials believe was the murder weapon was taken for forensics testing along with several other items.

“Usually we’ll have calls where a parent has whipped a child because of grades, a child has run away because of bad grades,” Sheriff Harris told WAFF on Saturday, “but we’ve never had anything like this happen.”

According to Chief Gregg, the victim’s husband was at work at the time. Tyler was their only child.

[Image via DeKalb County Detention Center]