Grandson Charged In Enfield Woman's Murder

ENFIELD, CT — The grandson of an elderly woman found bludgeoned to death in her home has been charged in connection with her killing, police said.

Anthony Ward, 35, was charged Wednesday with murdering Frances Battagler, 79, who was found dead inside her home at 47 Second Avenue on Aug. 20.

Ward is being held on a court-set bond of $1 million, police said.

An affidavit supporting Ward's arrest indicates police were informed by a relative of Ward that two letters had been received from him, in which "he made comments that he felt alone and that he should be dead by the time she reads the letter." The relative was concerned that Ward "had harmed himself due to the wording of the letter. He had written that this was his “dying request” and that the second letter was “a nice goodbye letter explaining why I did this.”

Battagler had picked up Ward from Saint Francis Hospital on Sunday, Aug. 18, and a check of the victim's cell phone indicated she last read a text message at 2:22 p.m. that day, according to the affidavit.

Upon receipt of the two letters, police went to Battagler's house and noted "all the doors and windows were locked from the inside." A neighbor told police the woman's black Toyota Corolla "was missing from her driveway and it is always home by that time." Officers forced entry through the front door and observed the home appeared to be "ransacked," according to the affidavit.

At the top of the stairs, police found Battagler lying unresponsive in a pool of blood. She "had several wounds consistent with blunt force trauma to her head and that the blood around her was mostly dry. Signs of death and decomposition were evident," the warrant states.

A bag of spoiled perishable groceries was found in the kitchen, and a Big Y grocery store receipt dated Aug. 18 and time stamped at 12:25 p.m. was found in a trash barrel in Battagler's driveway. Detectives and store security personnel reviewed video surveillance footage from the interior of the store during that time frame, and an elderly woman and younger man are seen in the store, shopping together. The descriptions of the two were consistent with the known description of Battagler and Ward, according to the affidavit.

Inside the store, Ward "is wearing a dark colored t-shirt with a round American flag type design in the photo which is consistent in size, color, and design to the dark colored shirt lying near the victim’s body," the report states.

About two hours after Battagler was last seen inside the store with Ward, her grandson called an acquaintance and offered to sell him a black Toyota Corolla for $1,200. The next day, he failed to show up at a scheduled court appearance, and he was not found until he crashed his grandmother's car in Wethersfield on Aug. 21, the report states.