100 year old woman strangled in nursing home
newsdeskinternational ♦ 10/09/2009 ♦ 3 Comments
Written by Janet
A 100 year old woman was found strangled in her nursing home bed on September 24, and according to her son, she was quite happy at the facility. In routine check of patients at Brandon Woods Nursing home on Sept. 24, workers found Elizabeth Barrow dead in her bed. At first police guessed it was a suicide….(huh?)…..It has now been ruled a homicide after autopsy results showed the cause of death was strangulation. The district attorney’s office declined to release other details.
A law enforcement official familiar with the investigation said,
that Barrow was found with a plastic bag over her head in a room she shared with a woman in her late 90s. There were no obvious signs of a struggle. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to comment on an ongoing investigation. Investigators were unaware of any conflicts Barrow may have had with others, the official said.
Barrow’s only child, Scott Barrow, told The Standard-Times of New Bedford the family celebrated her 100th birthday on Aug. 21.
The family, including her three grandchildren, took her out for lunch and went shopping for winter clothes the day before she died and she was in good health and spirits, he said.
Elizabeth Barrow and her husband, A. Raymond, both moved to Brandon Woods about 4 1/2 years ago, he said. “She loved the nursing home. She had a lot of friends there,” he said. Her husband died about two years ago after 65 years of marriage.
Scott Picone, executive director of Brandon Woods, said Wednesday night that “the facility grieves for Elizabeth’s family.” He said Brandon Woods officials are cooperating with authorities. The nursing home president, identified in public records as Frank Romano Jr. of Rowley, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Related
- Posted in: Elderly News
- Tagged: 100 yr old strangled, Elizabeth Barrow, nursing home
Newsdesk International 
Update~~~~~
Son: Slain 100-year-old mom, roommate had tension
The son of a 100-year-old woman found strangled in her bed at a Massachusetts nursing home says there was tension between his mother and her roommate. Elizabeth Barrow was found dead in her bed last month, with a plastic bag tied around her head. Authorities have not named any suspects and a prosecutor has declined to comment on Barrow’s roommate.
Scott Barrow says he asked officials at the Brandon Woods nursing home to separate his mother and her roommate, who is in her late 90s. But they assured him the two were getting along. Chief of operations Scott Picone says the roommates were offered room changes twice this summer, and both declined. Scott Barrow says after his mother died, her roommate told him that she knew he’d blame her for the death, but insisted she had nothing to do with it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~UPDATE~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I thought the room mate was responsible…..
DA: Woman, 98, Killed 100-Year-Old Roommate
A 98-year-old Dartmouth nursing home resident is facing murder charges, accused of strangling and suffocating her 100-year-old roommate in September, Bristol County prosecutors said Friday.
A grand jury indicted Laura Lundquist on second-degree murder charges in connection with the Sept. 24 death of her roommate Elizabeth Barrow.
Barrow was found dead in her bed with a plastic bag over her head during a routine check on residents at the Brandon Woods Nursing Home in Dartmouth. An autopsy showed that the cause of death was manual strangulation and suffocation.
“The investigation revealed that Ms. Lundquist harbored hostility towards Ms. Barrow because she believed Ms. Barrow was taking over the room they shared at the nursing home,” Bristol County District Attorney Samuel Sutter said. “Ms. Lundquist made statements prior to Ms. Barrow’s death that she would get Ms. Barrow’s bed by the window because she was going to out live her.”
Sutter said that Barrow had complained that her roommate was making her life a “living hell.”
Lundquist moved to a secure hospital facility after making a threatening comment, Sutter said.
“Ms. Lundquist observed a white plastic bag similar to the one found covering Ms. Barrow’s head and stated that ‘she had a bag like Betty and I hope I don’t have to use it,'” Sutter said.
Superior Court Judge Lloyd MacDonald ordered that Lundquist be sent to Taunton State Hospital for a competency evaluation prior to being arraigned.
Lundquist may be the oldest person on the state’s history to be charged with second-degree murder.
“I have a sworn duty that when presented with evidence that supports a particular person has committed a murder — whether it be a 98-year-old woman or an 8-year-old boy as was prosecuted this year in St. John, Arizona — that my office must move forward with charges,” Sutter said.
Barrow’s son Scott said his centenarian mother was still going strong at the time of her death. He said she defied her age and lived a happy, alert life at the nursing home.
“We’re devastated. I mean, my mother was well-loved. She loved everyone at the nursing home. She had a daily routine where she would go up and down the hallway and hug people who weren’t as fortunate as she,” Scott Barrow said.
He said his mother, who turned 100 on Aug. 21, still loved to read, socialize and shop and even at 100 she was “hardly at death’s door.”
Barrow was married for 65 years to a former tax assessor, A. Raymond Barrow, who died two years ago.
“The day before this happened we took her out for lunch at her favorite place and then we went shopping for winter clothes and so forth and she was looking forward to, you know, continuing her life,” Barrow said.
He said his mother worked as a cafeteria worker for many years in Dartmouth public schools and at Bishop Stang High School.
After 5 years, nothing has changed, the 102 year old still hasn’t been charged with murder.
Murder charge still pending against woman at 102
Nearly five years after a woman was charged with killing her 100-year-old roommate in a Massachusetts nursing home, a second-degree murder charge is still pending against her at the age of 102.
peoplepc