Caregiver Faces Death Penalty Following Elderly Man's Death
In San Diego, a 44-year-old woman could possibly face the death penalty if she is convicted of charges of murder and special circumstance charges of murder for financial gain following the death of an 89-year-old man whom she was caring for. The caregiver is also accused of stealing over $500,000 from the elderly man’s bank accounts as well.
The 44-year-old woman pleaded not guilty to the murder charges. The incident originally occurred in October when the elderly man went missing. His body has yet to be found and police have not found any evidence that he is still alive. The woman was originally put in charge of caring for the man’s wife who subsequently died of cancer last September.
The elderly man placed the woman in charge of all his finances and that is when she began stealing from him. When police noted a sudden halt to the elderly man’s activities including contacts to family and financial activities, a missing persons report was filed. Another reason police filed the report is because they found evidence that his signature was forged in a document turning over his home and the title to the home over to the caretaker. The district attorney will determine whether the woman will face the death penalty or life imprisonment.
Unfortunately this kind of incident happens very frequently and elderly victims often lose thousands of dollars in the process. A caretaker may be caring for another relative when they are put in charge of the victim’s care. When this happens, the caretaker often uses their position of authority over the victim to coerce them to hand over personal identification information including bank account numbers and ID cards. In order to prevent from getting caught they will then block the victim from contacting family members in order to keep suspicion down. However, in most cases the perpetrator makes a mistake as a result of their greed in trying to steal more money from their victims. This mistake often leads to their arrest and subsequent trial where the victims receive the justice they deserve.
