Woman, 98, Indicted for Killing Roommate, 100

(New Bedford, Massachusetts) A 98-year-old nursing home resident, Laura Lundquist, was indicted earlier today for allegedly strangling her roommate, 100-year-old Elizabeth Barrow.

Laura Lundquist was sent to a state mental hospital for a competency evaluation before she is arraigned on the murder charge. Her defense attorney, Carl Levin, said she has a “long-standing diagnosis of dementia, as well as issues of cognitive impairment.”

The body of Elizabeth Barrow, with a plastic bag tied around her head, was found in her bed at the Brandon Woods nursing home in Dartmouth on Sept. 24. Police initially speculated it was a suicide, but a medical examiner ruled it a homicide after an autopsy indicated strangulation.

The two women lived together for about a year.