Five days after his mother's beaten and dismembered body was found in her Solana Beach home, a 28-year-old man faced a judge in Vista and pleaded not guilty to her murder.

Bryan Chenhua Chang remained expressionless in court as a prosecutor spoke of the gruesome slaying of Chang's mother, Sherry Chu Chang.

The 60-year-old woman was found dead Monday morning, missing her right arm and the back of her skull, Deputy District Attorney Rachel Solov said in court.

Investigators found Chang's arm and pieces of her skull in her refrigerator, and the rest of her body in a downstairs bathroom of the two-story home on Santa Florencia, the prosecutor said.

Solov said Chang died from "blunt force trauma to the head." The victim also suffered broken ribs, facial fractures and bruises that appear consistent with someone beating her with a hammer, Solov said.

The dismemberment happened after Chang died, Solov said.

The attack probably played out in an upstairs room, where investigators found a bloody fingerprint, which Solov said was a match to son Bryan Chang.

Solov's account implied a potential motive: money. The victim had been financially supporting her unemployed son, which had been a source of "recent disputes," Solov said.

Bryan Chang, a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, had worked in the computer software field, but has not had a job for 18 months, said his attorney, Deputy Public Defender Jeremy Burland.

Charged with murder and an allegation that he used a hammer in the killing, Chang faces 26 years to life if convicted.

Citing what she called "the viciousness of the attack," Superior Court Judge Joan Weber set Chang's bail at $5 million. Solov had requested bail be set at $10 million; Burland asked Weber to consider setting bail at $1 million.

In asking for a high bail, Solov disclosed details of what the investigation had revealed, and laid out a timeline of events.

On Jan. 19, she said, Bryan Chang reported that his car had been stolen.

At noon on Jan. 23, a Saturday, Sherry Chang drove to her son's Los Angeles apartment to discuss the matter, Solov said. Sherry Chang also spoke with her husband, who lives in Los Angeles, and "expressed concern about the situation," Solov said.

Five hours later, neighbors spotted Sherry Chang back at her Solana Beach home, accompanied by a person who looked like her son, the prosecutor said.

At 2 a.m. Monday, Bryan Chang took a cab from Solana Beach to Los Angeles, and tried to charge the ride on his mother's credit card, Solov said.

She said the son had "attempted to use the victim's credit card several times," but had failed because he did not have the correct pin number."

Later Monday morning, Sherry Chang failed to show up at work, prompting concerned co-workers to ask San Diego County Sheriff's deputies to check on her, Solov said.

That's when deputies made the gruesome discovery.

Aside from finding body parts in the refrigerator, investigators found a serrated knife in the kitchen sink and a large knife in the dishwasher, Solov said.

In the garage, authorities found a trash can with "a substantial amount of what appeared to be blood" and the victim's bloody clothes, Solov said.

"It appeared that the defendant attempted to clean up the crime scene," she told Judge Weber.

On Sherry Chang's desk, investigators found a credit card statement listing purchases made in San Diego and Los Angeles, Solov said. The Los Angeles charges had been highlighted, the prosecutor said.

Bryan Chang was arrested at his Los Angeles apartment on Wednesday. At that time, he appeared to have blood under his fingernails and toenails, Solov said.

The defendant is due back in court for a status hearing on Feb. 10.

Call staff writer Teri Figueroa at 760-740-5442.