A Richmond man told police he strangled his 83-year-old mother from behind after she saw him using cocaine and expressed her disapproval, according to a law-enforcement official.

David Ray Worsham, 55, faces a charge of first-degree murder in the death of Virginia Worsham. He turned himself in to Richmond sheriff's deputies Saturday and admitted he had killed her, police said.

Her body was found in the house she shared with David Worsham in the 5300 block of Campbell Avenue in Fulton Hill. It had been her home for 50 years.

Virginia Worsham died of asphyxiation by ligature strangulation, the state medical examiner's office said yesterday. Police said they are uncertain what was used to strangle her.

David Worsham told police he killed his mother at some point after she told him on Friday that she disapproved of his drug use, according to the law-enforcement official, but there is no evidence of a heated argument between the two.

He is being held without bond at the Richmond City Jail.

Alice Alderman, who is Virginia Worsham's granddaughter and David Worsham's niece, said an employee at the jail told her Monday that Worsham was on suicide watch.

A spokesman for the sheriff's office said yesterday that Worsham "did in fact display some behaviors that caused us some concern" at the time of his arrest, and that he "was assigned to one of the units where he could be more closely guarded."

David Worsham had been living with his mother for at least the past 10 years, Alderman said. People would joke that one never went anywhere without the other.

"He was just always home with his mother, taking care of her," said Alderman, who lives in Florida.

But David Worsham also yelled at his mother sometimes, Alderman said.

Growing up, Alderman said she lived at the house on Campbell Avenue with her mother and with Virginia Worsham and her late husband, Nelson Worsham. David Worsham also lived there.

"We was raised together," Alderman, 45, said of herself and David Worsham. "He's more like my brother."

She recalled that her grandparents would take her, David Worsham and one of his brothers, Bernard Worsham, on trips to the beach and to mountains in the Charlottesville area.

"She was a really sweet lady," Alderman said about Virginia Worsham. "I'm not just saying that because she's my grandma. But you can ask anybody."

Survivors include four children, three grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

A graveside service will be held Thursday at 11 a.m. at Oakwood Cemetery in Richmond.

Contact Reed Williams at (804) 649-6332 or rwilliams@timesdispatch.com.