ROCKWOOD, Tenn. — Documents are shedding more light on the case of a Roane County woman accused of murdering her mother earlier in April.
Marie Hefner, 50, was arrested on April 25 and accused of killing Bertha Lodewegen, 75, following an investigation by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and Roane County Sheriff's Office.
The investigation began on April 21 when the Roane County Sheriff's Office responded to a report of a woman's body being found at a home at 109 Circle Drive in Rockwood. A witness called 911 at 9 a.m. after discovering Lodewegen's body. They said they were checking on her.
When deputies arrived, they said they found Lodewegen dead with a wound to her neck. They initially believed the woman might have died by accident after falling down some stairs.
The TBI joined the sheriff's office in the investigation. Over the next few days, investigators concluded that Lodewegen's death was no accident and they began investigating the case as a homicide.
WBIR 10News obtained court documents on the case, including Hefner's arrest warrant.
According to the warrant, Hefner told deputies she was last alone with her mother at the Circle Drive home on April 20. She said she arrived in her Silver Jeep around 9:30 a.m. to pick her mother up so they could go to breakfast at MeMe's Restaurant and grocery shopping at Kroger.
Investigators found receipts near the mother's wallet from MeMe's and Kroger that were dated April 20 and time-stamped at 9:44 a.m. and 11:41 a.m.
The daughter said she thought she left the home between 12:30 p.m. to 1 p.m. but said she wasn't looking at the time.
According to the arrest warrant, investigators obtained video from a neighboring home and home security alert logs from the victim's phone.
The video taken from a neighboring home on April 20 showed a Silver Jeep pull up to 109 Circle Drive around 9:26 a.m. and leave around 9:36 a.m. The warrant said the Jeep returned around 12:03 p.m. and a person was seen unloading some bags. Investigators said the same person got into the Jeep and left around 1:34 p.m.
The warrant said the mother's phone had several home security alerts recorded on it on April 20. They said the logs showed no activity between 9:34 a.m. and 12:04 p.m. At 12:04 p.m., the log showed that a side door was opened and it recorded movement in the dining room.
Around 12:18 p.m., the home security logs reported a glass break alert. It then recorded the basement door opening and closing around 1:02 p.m., and then another glass break alert was recorded in the basement around 1:25 p.m.
The warrant said no other activity was recorded on the phone's security logs until 9 a.m. the next day when the witness arrived and called 9/11.
The Roane County Sheriff's Office arrested Hefner on April 25 and charged her with first-degree murder. She is scheduled to appear in court on July 2 at 9 a.m.