UPDATE: An affidavit says that a Sequatchie County man confessed to beating his mother to death with a bat and burning her body as his stepfather watched.

According to the affidavit, deputies conducted a welfare check on 50-year-old Silvia Vilchez at her home on Snyder Loop in Graysville on October 28. Her husband, David Gardiner, and son, Gabriel Vilchez, told deputies she was on a trip to Costa Rica.

After receiving conflicting statements and tracking Silvia’s cellphone to the home, investigators obtained a search warrant. When the warrant was executed on October 30, detectives reported finding what appeared to be large blood stains on the carpet, red spatter on the walls, and a shop vacuum filled with liquid believed to be blood.

Outside the home, investigators discovered a burn pi

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