Close call

[mdlbear]

My Mom had a close brush with death yesterday. Entirely too close.

She lives in a retirement community called Galloway Ridge in NC. If you look for it on Google News today, you'll get this. You can get some of the high order bits from the Boston Globe: "Elderly woman dies after attack; former maid charged with murder".

Two of Mom's good friends, Margaret and Mary, learned a couple of days ago that the woman they had hired as a housekeeper was suspected of forging checks. After discussing it with Mom, they invited her over to talk about it. Here's the scary part: they asked Mom to sit in, in case there was trouble; when it turned out that Mom had a dentist appointment they asked another friend from across the hall, instead.

When Mom got back from her dentist appointment she learned that the housekeeper had sprayed the three women with pepper spray, then bludgeoned them, apparently with a cane or walking stick. Margaret is dead, and Mary is not expected to survive. Their friend -- the one who could very well have been Mom -- is in serious condition.

Other news links: here, here, here, here, and here.

It's not safe out there. Anywhere. Take care.

Comments

[pocketnaomi.livejournal.com]

Yipe! I'm so sorry for your mom's friends, and glad she wasn't there.

[mdlbear]

Thanks!

[kshandra]

OMFG. What a horrible, horrible situation.

[lisa-marli.livejournal.com]

Oh boy. That's scary. I'm so sorry for your mom's friends. She must be very upset right now. I hope the other two old ladies come out of this ok. They don't' heal as well when they get older.
And it is sad that someone would think that she would get away with writing bad checks by killing people. That is so stoopid.
I don't understand some people.

[mdlbear]

The pepper spray definitely suggests it was premeditated.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Yeowch.

The vindictive part of me hopes the rest of the NC state pen inmates take a dim view of this.... with appropriate consequences.

The world has gotten to be a scarier place without the discipline inherent (literally) in your generation and mine. Not good. I just hope we can manage to shape the whippersnappers up before we have to depend on'em.

[callibr8]

That's just ... ghastly. I'm so sorry for your mom, and the women who died, and the many lives they touched that will be deprived of their continued wisdom and compassion. GAAAAH!

[mdlbear]

What really hurts is that they were trying to help her out by keeping her record clean. *sigh*

[saffronrose.livejournal.com]

My sister had so many problems with the women she hired to mind/care for our mother when she herself was at work. 6 years of it, sharing her house with a stranger. Several stole, one committed several felonies and got a whole 2 years for it. After that one, my sister decided it was necessary for our mother to go to a nursing home--and we'd all been wondering who'd die first if she didn't do so. Mom lived 4 more years after that, no more happy or unhappy than she'd been at home, but leaving Carol with a liberty she'd lost for over 6 years. Alas, when our mother died, she was adrift, having had a routine of many years revolving around Mom. It's taken her a long time to recover.

I'm sorry things happened the way they did. I'm glad your mom is safe(r), and the irony of the women trying to help their attacker is not lost on me.

[mdlbear]

All too common, I'm afraid.

We generally hire friends, or parents of our kids' friends, but it still isn't a guarantee of either honesty or competence.

[gingicat]

Pointed here by telynor. I'm glad your mom is okay, and hope Mary makes a miraculous recovery.

[mdlbear]

Thanks

[telynor.livejournal.com]

Good lord. I'm so sorry this happened. I'm sure your mother must be in shock, and this incident will probably haunt her for a long time. I wish it weren't this way, but I echo saffronrose's comments about people taking advantage of the elderly. My mother hired someone to look after my grandmother in her home. They stole social security checks, valuable items around the house, and by the time my mom was able to fix the situation and move to Alabama in order to take care of my grandmother herself, bills weren't getting paid, she was in debt, and there was all kinds of stuff missing. It was a bad situation.

I hope the other two women recover from the attack. I was chilled to read the story of the accused perpetrator's prior record.

[bardling.livejournal.com]

Yes, sadly that's not confined to the US, either. My mother had a care service come in several times a week, doing shopping/errands/cleaning for her... and we found, when she'd gotten bad enough that she was just no longer safe on her own, via having to apply for power of attorney (I think that's the term), because she didn't want to go into a home, that someone - extremely likely someone employed by that service - systematically & regularly stole from her - a few hundred at a time, over a period of several years, that added up.

And yes, having looked further to find the bit about previous record... that is chilling indeed.

[tibicina.livejournal.com]

Eeep. I'm so sorry. That's truly awful. I'm glad that your mother is well, and I hope that her friends recover.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Eeep! I'm glad your mother is okay, and I'm so sorry for the other women and their families. What a horrible thing.

[mdlbear]

Thanks

[braider.livejournal.com]

Oof! Glad your mom's ok. Not glad that other people aren't. Annoyed that someone was stupid enough to think that, if they were caught for forging checks, murder wouldn't be a serious addition to their record, or that they wouldn't be caught.

[mdlbear]

Thanks.

It's baffling. Do people really think that way? But apparently people are that stupid. And they can vote, too.

[joecoustic.livejournal.com]

Oh my!

I'm glad your mom is okay and I'm so sorry for what happened and for the others who were hurt or killed.

This is just so wrong.

[mdlbear]

Thanks.

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

Hugs and condolences to your mother on her loss. Thanks be to God under all Her many names that your mom wasn't also hurt or killed.

[mdlbear]

Thanks. She was very lucky.

[mbumby.livejournal.com]

*hugs* Glad your mom is okay, but so sorry that she had this touch her life.

[mdlbear]

Thanks.

[dejla.livejournal.com]

Oh, how awful! What terrible people live in the world... I am so sorry for those three ladies and very relieved your mother wasn't one of them.

[mdlbear]

Thanks.

[faxpaladin.livejournal.com]

GoodThoughts...

[mdlbear]

Thanks.

[selenesue.livejournal.com]

More or less, me too, all of the above!

Serious reminder to do one's own research about anybody allowed in one's home.

[mdlbear]

Thanks. I don't think research would have helped much -- I believe the forgery etc. came to light only recently.

[mia-mcdavid.livejournal.com]

Dear God! How terribly scary! We all die, but to die in pain and terror, and before their time, is horrifying.

I'm so glad for that appointment, and so sorry for the victims!

[mdlbear]

Thanks. I'm still a bit freaked out.

[catalana.livejournal.com]

Eek! I'm glad your mother is okay! What a scary thing to have happen so close to her. Those poor women.

[gmcdavid.livejournal.com]

Yikes! Sorry to get the news, but I am glad your mother is OK.

[roaringmouse.livejournal.com]

G*d, Steve.. Someone used up her mitvahs...(apologize for spelling). The problem is even bonded people will do this. My grandmother on my father's side was bedridden for more than ten years. Silver tea & coffee services were stolen, etc. It wasn't until grandmother died and grandfather went to a Senior apartment in Boston, did the family find out the amount of theft.

Mouse

[jilara.livejournal.com]

I have been trying to figure out what to say, other than offer a virtual hug. Keep an eye out for survivor guilt--it can show up insideously in situations like this.

I was always lurking around Consuelo's place, back in the '80's, because I didn't trust the hired help. (I know for a fact one of them had tried to get her to change her will to leave her effects to him, and who knows what else.) But this is so far beyond...

[mdlbear]

I'll be calling every day or two; so far she seems to be coping, and my brother and sister-in-law are staying with her for a few days.

[madfilkentist]

Just came across this. That's horrible. I hope your mother's not too traumatized by the situation; I know I would be.

[mdlbear]

She's still shaken, but I think she'll pull through ok.

Annoyed at the security theatre going on -- that's a good sign as far as I'm concerned.

[ravan.livejournal.com]

OMFG! That's horrible. Plus, some of those articles show it was premeditated, yet they only plan to charge the scumbag with second degree murder. IMO, they should go for murder 1, premeditated murder as part of robbery and fraud.

Health aides in Florida stole stuff from my Grandmother before she died. Grandma was going blind, so she never noticed, and my mom could never prove who or when.

I just can't understand why people do this. We live with a 70+ year old diabetic. The thought of someone stealing from him is just horrible, yet we are fairly sure his previous roomates/tenants did just that.

[mdlbear]

It may depend on whether they can prove she brought the murder weapon with her or found it on the scene. Sucks, but I understand that they have to go with what they can prove.

Depending on whether NC has a three-strikes law and what it covers, she might still get life because of the prior theft and forgery charges.

[tiggerypum.livejournal.com]

I'd seen the thing in the news. I had not seen your post about your mom until now. How scary. Your poor mom must be really shaken up. :(

[mdlbear]

Quite a bit, yes.