Florida Woman, 86, Kills Husband With Walking Stick
A “confused” 86-year-old Florida woman was arrested this week on suspicion of murdering her 89-year-old husband with a walking cane, police said.
In a Monday press conference, law enforcement officials from the Santa Rosa Sheriff’s Office confirmed cops were called to a home in Pace, Florida, at around 10:30 a.m. Saturday.
Upon arrival, deputies found a man, later identified as Francis Lund, deceased on the property with blunt force trauma to the head. The murder weapon, it appeared, had been a cane.
“We have got a warrant signed for manslaughter, $250,000 bond, for Ramona Maxine Lund, the 86-year-old spouse,” Santa Rosa County Sheriff Bob Johnson said during the briefing. He said it was likely the oldest murder suspect the department had ever had to investigate.
As reported by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, officials said the suspect may suffer from dementia. “It’s clear that she’s confused,” William Eddins, a Florida state attorney, said.
“It’s important that, while we are going to focus on the mental confusion and that aspect, it is important to remember and be reminded that she is charged with a very serious crime that resulted in the loss of a human life,” Eddins added.
According to the Pensacola News Journal, a Santa Rosa news outlet, police were called to the elderly woman’s home by a neighbor who spotted the man’s bloody body on the home’s front porch. The neighbor tied to resuscitate the victim while waiting for emergency services. The suspect had reportedly been seen “standing over” the victim’s body at the residence.
The newspaper reported, citing the police, that the suspect had “blood on her hands and feet” when found. Her walking cane and nightgown was also covered in blood, officials noted.
Eddins conceded it was unusual for the prosecutors to be working with the public defender’s office to conduct a competency evaluation on the suspect, as they are doing in this case. He said: “It is my obligation to seek justice and it became clear…that this woman had significant indications of confusion and I felt it was important to my office to take an unusual approach.”
Sheriff Johnson said the suspect was treated at the jail infirmary. “We’re dealing probably with someone’s grandmother now,” he said as the briefing came to an end. “It’s not something that happens every day.”
Bruce Miller, defending the suspect, told the Pensacola News Journal he will now evaluate the defendant’s competency to stand trial and state of mind. “If someone suffers from dementia, they are not going to become competent,” he commented. “They are going to stay that way.”