A prosecutor will seek the death penalty for a mother and her teenage son accused of bludgeoning a former Fayette County woman in her Georgia home last month.

Augusta Judicial Circuit District Attorney Ashley Wright filed notice in Columbia County, Ga., Superior Court on Friday that she will seek the death penalty against Rebecca Sears, 41, and her 19-year-old son, Christopher Sean Bowers, both of Grovetown, Ga.

They are accused of robbing and fatally beating their next-door neighbor, Laverne Katherine Sanner Parsons, 41, who previously lived in the Dunbar and Hopwood areas.

Sears and Bowers allegedly bludgeoned Parsons with a claw hammer and baseball bat in her garage and then created a number of bizarre ruses to cover the murder, according to the Columbia County Sheriff's Department.

Parsons, known by friends as Kay, was a 1987 graduate of Laurel Highlands High School. She lived in Georgia with her husband and high school sweetheart, David R. Parsons, and their son, Derek, 12. Parsons was attacked as she returned home after dropping her son off at school.

Sears and Bowers are being held without bond in the county jail. According to the indictment made public last week, Sears and Bowers took a watch and gold necklace from Parsons after the beating. Police found both items in their home.

Both are charged with counts of murder, armed robbery and burglary.

Parsons was discovered in her home by a construction worker. She died the next day of blunt-force trauma to the head at Medical College of Georgia Hospital in Augusta.

Sears and the victim both worked at Healing Hands Physical Therapy near Augusta.

Sears is accused of concocting a number of ruses in an attempt to cover the crimes. Police allege that she staged a burglary at her own home about the same time Parson's body was discovered. The following day, Sears told police in neighboring Richmond County that she had been shot in the leg outside her workplace by a man who demanded money. Police say Bowers gave his mother a superficial wound in her leg.

A motive for the killing has not been made public, according to court documents.

Parsons has several brothers and sisters who still reside in Fayette County. She was buried last month in Sylvan Heights Cemetery, Uniontown.

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