Woman, 98, Indicted In 100-Year-Old Roommate's Death

[ninetoes]

"BOSTON -- 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."

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/mostpopular/21934259/detail.html

[GentleBreeze]

"BOSTON -- 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."

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/mostpopular/21934259/detail.html

Thank you. I was just thinking about this case the other day.

imo

[lune3]

Oh my gosh, how awful. The nursing facility should have separated these two women and reassigned their rooms. Surely they were aware of this lady's aggressivity, particularly after complaints were made.

I don't understand...after the threatening comment. Mrs Lundquist was moved to a secure hospital facility. Was she then placed back in the room with Mrs. Barrow after that?

[tootie]

This is very sad. :sad:

Out of curiosity if this 98 year old woman is convicted of murder where will they house her? If she needed to be in a nursing home facility to begin with, how will a jail facility deal with her? :shrug:

[R~O~S]

Oh my gosh, how awful. The nursing facility should have separated these two women and reassigned their rooms. Surely they were aware of this lady's aggressivity, particularly after complaints were made.

I don't understand...after the threatening comment. Mrs Lundquist was moved to a secure hospital facility. Was she then placed back in the room with Mrs. Barrow after that?


The son requested reassignment, his mom thought she could smooth things over. She sounds like a sweet dear soul.

How frightening it must have been for her, the poor thing murdered in her own bed by her roommate.

The poor son, trying to do right by his mom. He can't be a young man himself. The fact he didn't insist on the move will haunt him.

The roommate was sent before arraignment for competency evaluation. The threatening comment that got her moved to a secure facility was made to her new roommate. I'm not clear on whether the evaluation is being done at the same secure facility or another.

From the Boston.com article, poorly edited I agree, it's been updated since I first read it. It was easier to understand before the update:

"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.

Ms. Barrow's, the 100 yr old victims first name was Elizabeth (Betty), that's what made the statement threatening, she was talking about the bag that was found over Ms. Barrow's head and doing the same to the new roommate.

She told Ms Barrow's she was going to outlive her, but that wasn't clearly threatening, she could have been just talking about being younger than Ms Barrow's.

It's just so sad all the way around. You've got to believe the 98 year old suspect is suffering some degree of dementia. You don't live 98 respectable years only to then become a violent criminal, a murderer yet.

[RootBeer]

Do they have finger prints on the bag that was over the victims head?

This is truly very sad.

[barskin&co.]

How do you know she lived 98 respectable years?

Good point.

[Ladygator]

This is very sad. :sad:

Out of curiosity if this 98 year old woman is convicted of murder where will they house her? If she needed to be in a nursing home facility to begin with, how will a jail facility deal with her? :shrug:

It is very sad!

My Mom is in a NH and she had problems with a roomy at one point. I don't recall the details anymore but it was basically 2 women who just didn't get along very well. My Mom moved and now all is well.

Like you say, how will the system house and take care of a 98 yo woman who has been in a NH? Will she live in the medical ward of a prison?

[R~O~S]

Updated story, makes it easier to understand the events, but I still don't understand if she was moved to a secure facility first and to Taunton for evaluation later:

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/12/12/woman_98_indicted_on_murder_charges/?page=1

The two-page document says Lundquist “has a long standing diagnosis of dementia and exhibited other erratic behaviors. The records further revealed that the defendant herself had previously expressed concerns that another roommate would strangle her in her.

Seems nobody really expects this to go to trial, not even the son of Ms. Barrows:

“It is my expectation that she will be found not competent,’’ Levin said from his office in Providence. “It’s a very sad event.’’

The victim’s son, Scott Barrow, said in a telephone interview that he thinks it would be absurd for prosecutors to try Lundquist.

[airportwoman]

How do you know she lived 98 respectable years?

True. They might want to talk to her children (if she has them) or other relatives, and find out her employment history. Women criminals and sociopaths were not invented in 2009.

OTOH, the loss of inhibitions that accompany Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia can do some awful things to people. I just mentioned in the "Breaking News" thread about a man who was placed in a nursing home after a stroke, and was raping female patients - something he had NEVER done in his past life. His children said he had never been abusive on any level, and was not sexually inappropriate before his stroke.

:sad:

[tootie]

It is very sad!

My Mom is in a NH and she had problems with a roomy at one point. I don't recall the details anymore but it was basically 2 women who just didn't get along very well. My Mom moved and now all is well.

Like you say, how will the system house and take care of a 98 yo woman who has been in a NH? Will she live in the medical ward of a prison?

Maybe you are right about the medical ward. I am sure they have elderly people incarcerated so there has to be a plan. What that is I don't know.

[R~O~S]

Maybe you are right about the medical ward. I am sure they have elderly people incarcerated so there has to be a plan. What that is I don't know.


There are still secure mental health facilities that aren't prisons. Obviously they won't be able to assume Ms. Lindquist won't hurt somebody else given the chance. If they don't prosecute she'll likely be sent to a secure ward. They're building a new state of the art facility in Worcester & they'll be closing two older facilities in Central Massachusetts over a two year period when the new one comes on line. They're projecting the new facility will be ready to open in 2012.

http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=eohhs2pressrelease&L=4&L0=Home&L1=Government&L2=Departments+and+Divisions&L3=Department+of+Mental+Health&sid=Eeohhs2&b=pressrelease&f=090514_psychiatric_hospital&csid=Eeohhs2

[LizzieCat]

The 98 year old woman suffers from dementia, according to all accounts I've read. That does not mean she was a life-long sociopath.

I cared for my mother who suffered from Alzheimer's and dementia. She was not the self who had led her earlier life.

When I finally had to put her in a nursing home, she was frequently terrified by her roommate, and her roommate wasn't really doing anything wrong. She was just suffering from dementia as well and was louder about it than my mother.

The nursing home is at fault in this case, as far as I can tell.

[ninetoes]

This is very sad. :sad:

Out of curiosity if this 98 year old woman is convicted of murder where will they house her? If she needed to be in a nursing home facility to begin with, how will a jail facility deal with her? :shrug:

In our case (daughter was sexually molested by an elderly man in a nursing home), he was convicted, but not sentenced to serve any time. They sent him back to the nursing home with restrictions on who he could have contact with. To be fair, such restrictions were already in place because he had a 25 year history of sexual molestation of children, but, unfortunately, someone dropped the ball the day our daughter visited the nursing home with her day camp.

[R~O~S]

The 98 year old woman suffers from dementia, according to all accounts I've read. That does not mean she was a life-long sociopath.

I cared for my mother who suffered from Alzheimer's and dementia. She was not the self who had led her earlier life.

When I finally had to put her in a nursing home, she was frequently terrified by her roommate, and her roommate wasn't really doing anything wrong. She was just suffering from dementia as well and was louder about it than my mother.

The nursing home is at fault in this case, as far as I can tell.


I understand what you're saying. I worked as a CNA when I was very young and cared for a lot of Alzheimer's and dementia patients. They can be very sweet & yet turn very agitated in a heartbeat.

OTOH, it seems Ms Barrow's declined being moved & also declined having Ms Lundquist moved. Ms Lundquist hadn't shown any indication she was a danger to Ms Barrow's at that point so did they have a responsibility to move them even against their wishes?

Perhaps you're right, maybe they should have realized when Ms Lundquist punched the nurses aide for moving her table that there was a big problem and separated the two, but that had only happened the previous evening. I don't think they really had time to make a move at that point. Maybe she should have been medicated, or sent to the hospital for evaluation?

I'd like to think there's a correct and standard thing to do when something like that happens. Yet I don't remember having any such procedures. I had combative patients, male patients we knew were dangerous to us in one way or another, I don't remember having patients that were considered dangerous to other patients & we did not have a secure ward at that facility.