Son charged with bludgeoning mum to death with guitar then yelling 'I killed my mum' in his garden

A depraved son allegedly bludgeoned his mother to death with an electric guitar before pacing around his garden yelling: "I've killed my mum".

Garret Selters is being held in the Des Moines County jail after being taken custody at the scene of a horrific murder in Burlington, Iowa.

The 29-year-old has been charged with first-degree murder after 56-year-old Linda Selters was found dead on the morning of Tuesday (17 October).

According to the local newspaper, the Hawk Eye, authorities have said it appears Linda Selters was struck several times in the head with a blunt instrument inside her home.

The Associated Press (AP) say police have stated that they believe Garret Selters struck his mother in the back of her head with a Les Paul electric guitar.

Linda Selters was allegedly found face-down on the second-floor landing, bleeding from an injury to the back of her head, and she was rushed to the Great River Medical Centre in West Burlington and then onto the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.

Commander of Burlington's criminal investigations division, Greg Allen, said: "Upon arrival officers encountered a male later identified as Garret Scott Selters.

"Upon checking the welfare of the other resident at this address, officers found an unresponsive female (Linda Selters) with life threatening injuries inside the residence."

Neighbour Wayne Easley said that he heard Garret Selters, who suffers from schizophrenia, pacing around the garden screaming in the minutes before his arrest.

"I heard Garret yelling really, really loud," Easley said. "I could hear him inside the residence yelling 'I killed my mom. I killed my mom.' I walked over to their front yard and yelled at Garret several times to see if he was OK. But he never responded or came outside of the house."

Selters has already appeared in court, during a 15-minute hearing on Wednesday where he found out his mother had died and the original charges of assault were upgraded to murder.

It was reported that a police forensics team say they had found the dead woman's hair inside the guitar which Garret Selters allegedly used to beat his mother to death with.

Court papers said that Linda Selters called police before she was beaten to death, saying her son was suffering from an "episode".

The documents read: "Linda stated Garret was being aggressive towards her, not listening to her and was having an 'episode'.

"She further explained that Garret suffers from schizophrenia and she needed officers' help dealing with him."