Off with her head!

:P

Pensioner, 98, charged with murdering 100-year-old room-mate after complaining she 'had too many visitors'

By Katie Davies
Last updated at 10:53 PM on 12th December 2009

Ms Barrow celebrating her 100th birthday. She was found dead in her bed with a plastic bag tied around her head

A 98-year-old woman has been charged with the murder of her 100-year-old room-mate at a nursing home after allegedly strangling her.

Laura Lundquist is said to have made the life of centenarian Elizabeth Barrow a ‘living hell’ before killing her in a row over who had more space in their shared bedroom.

Mrs Barrow’s body was found in her bed with a plastic bag tied around her head at the home in Dartmouth, Massachusetts. Police initially suspected it was suicide before a post-mortem revealed she had been strangled and Mrs Lundquist was arrested.

Mrs Lundquist is believed to be the oldest person to be charged with murder in the American state’s history.

She has been sent to a state mental hospital for evaluation. Her lawyer, Carl Levin, said she has a ‘long-standing

diagnosis of dementia, as well as issues of cognitive impairment’. It is unlikely that her case will go to trial because of her dementia.

Prosecutors have pursued a second-degree murder charge – equivalent to manslaughter in Britain – as they said Mrs Lundquist was not mentally capable of premeditating the murder.

They claim Mrs Lundquist ‘harboured hostility’ towards the older woman and believed she was ‘taking over the room’ so she suffocated her to death.

Staff at the Brandon Woods Nursing Home said the women had been close friends who even uttered ‘Goodnight, I love you’ to each other before going to sleep.

However, Mrs Barrow’s son, Scott, 61, and prosecuting lawyer Sam Sutter, who appeared at a hearing on Friday to determine whether Mrs Lundquist could be charged, said their relationship had soured over control of their joint bedroom.

Mr Sutter said Mrs Barrow claimed Mrs Lundquist was making her
life ‘a living hell’ in the weeks before she died on September 24 and had vowed to get her room-mate’s bed by the window, claiming she would ‘outlive her’.

Mr Barrow said he had asked for the women to be separated after his mother told him about ‘threatening’ and ‘harassing’ remarks.

He said his mother, who turned 100 on August 21, was ‘a loving and outgoing person’. She enjoyed living in the home and playing bingo.

Mr Barrow said the room-share, which started a year ago, continued because staff claimed the pair were getting along – and because his mother did not want to leave the bedroom she had previously shared with her husband before his death in 2007.

In a statement, the home said the room-mates acted like sisters and that Mrs Barrow had declined a room change offered in July and August.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1235254/Laura-Lundquis...