40-year-old woman charged with sexual assault and murder of 70-year-old female “acquaintance”

On Thursday evening, a woman in Old Bridge, New Jersey, called 911 and claimed she had killed someone.

The emergency responders called the police, who rushed to the Glenwood Apartments and Country Club. When they arrived, officers found a gruesome sight: a 70-year-old woman lying in a pool of blood in her apartment. According to an affidavit from Detective Erik Larson, a bloody knife, an umbrella, a drawer and clothing were found at the scene.

The authorities alerted paramedics, who pronounced the woman dead at the scene of the accident.

Police arrested 40-year-old Caroline Beckert and charged her with second-degree premeditated murder, aggravated sexual assault and unlawful possession of a weapon. According to a press release from the Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office, Beckert fatally attacked Joann Cullinan in her home and robbed her of $15 in cash.

According to the police report, first obtained by NJ.com, Beckert allegedly used the knife and the heavy wooden drawer to stab and beat Cullinan to death. During the murder, Beckert allegedly sexually assaulted the elderly woman with an umbrella, police allege.

Although police did not give a specific motive for the brutal attack, the police report states that the two women were acquaintances.

The brutality of the crime shocked neighbors of the apartment complex. “I’ve been here for four years now,” neighbor Michael Shantz told CBS News. “I’ve never heard or experienced anything like this.”

Another neighbor told the station that Cullinan had always been friendly and would wave to passersby before she became more withdrawn last year. “I feel like something happened,” the neighbor told CBS. “She looked like she needed help.”

Cullinan lived in the apartment with her adult son. It is unclear whether he was at home at the time of the murder.

PEOPLE confirms that Beckert is being held without bail at the Middlesex County Adult Corrections Center. She has not yet entered a guilty plea and court records do not indicate that a defense attorney is authorized to speak on her behalf. A court hearing is scheduled for Friday in New Brunswick Superior Court.

The medical examiner has performed an autopsy to determine the exact cause of death. The results have not yet been released.