‘How could you?’: Man accused of killing elderly mom, hiding her body in a rug in Chicago home

A man is accused of killing his 88-year-old mother and wrapping her body in a rug before it was discovered by police cadaver dogs days after she was last seen alive, prosecutors said in court Friday.

Emotional family members of the woman shouted in court as her son appeared before a judge on charges of murder and concealing a death.

“Look at me. How could you?” one person yelled at Kevan Works just after a judge ordered the 66-year-old detained until his trial.

Daniest Graves was last seen on March 26 when she returned home from dropping her sister off from a shopping trip. After that, family members reported she stopped responding to text messages and failed to show up for work, sparking her sister and neighbors to call for a welfare check.

Works had been living with Graves since Thanksgiving, and was at the home when her sister came to check on her, prosecutors said. But the sister was never let inside.

On April 7, police executed a search warrant at the Roseland home in the 10700 block of South Lafayette. During that search, cadaver dogs alerted police to a basement room, which had been hidden behind a bookcase. Graves’ body was found inside, rolled in a rug, which had been partially wrapped in garbage bags and duct tape, prosecutors said.

The Cook County Medical Examiner’s office ruled her death a homicide as investigators believe she was bludgeoned to death. Her body had knife wounds on her hands and 17 “blunt force injuries” to her body and massive head trauma, prosecutors said.

Inside the home and near where the body was found, officers noticed bleach, air fresheners, a knife and hammer, prosecutors said.

At the time, Works told police he thought his mother “wandered off” due to dementia, though prosecutors said she did not have dementia and was working and driving on her own.

Graves’ car was later found on Chicago’s West Side after prosecutors said Works lent it out in exchange for drugs.

Works’ attorneys argued in court the evidence was circumstantial, but the judge ruled in favor of detention.

HIs next court hearing is slated for April 29.