Man accused of killing his grandmother with a hammer

A 36-year-old man was charged May 24 in the killing of his grandmother, who was beaten to death with a hammer in May in her Lake View Terrace home, police said.

Local authorities detained Joseph "Joey" Kushner in the Bakersfield area May 20, and detectives with the Los Angeles Police Department brought him back to the Los Angeles area, LAPD Det. Rich Wheeler said.

Kushner was charged with one count of murder along with an allegation that he used a hammer to kill 78-year-old Armida Custodio, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney's office. An arraignment has been continued to June 9, officials said.

Investigators think Custodio was killed between May 2 and May 4.

On May 4, a family member requested a welfare check for Custodio, and officers went to her home in the 11300 block of Terra Vista Way, police said.

Coroner's records show that Custodio was discovered on her bedroom floor. She died of blunt-force trauma to the head.

Two days after the killing, police held a news conference and said they were looking for Kushner, who they said was the last person to see Custodio alive.

At some point, Kushner called his father and told him where he was, Wheeler said.

The father then called police and relayed the information, the detective said.

Wheeler said that in an interview with investigators, Kushner "confessed to the crime, but he claimed it was in self-defense."

"Her injuries are not consistent with his claim of self-defense," Wheeler said.

Contact the Homicide Report. Follow @latimeshomicide on Twitter.

Photo: Joseph "Joey" Kushner is shown in a photo displayed at an LAPD news conference. Credit: KTLA-TV