The elderly victim died of ‘asphyxiation caused by strangulation and blows to the head’ at the home in northern France. Photograph: Yui Mok/PA

102-year-old women suspected of killing her 92-year-old neighbor

A 92-year-old woman found dead in her room at a care home. The suspected murderer is her own neighbor, a 102-year-old woman, who is now has been placed in psychiatric care in north-eastern France.

According to prosecutor Frederic Trinh, in the statement, late Wednesday, the women, aged 102, appeared in agitation and told the medical staff that she had killed someone. The 102-year-old then was transferred to a psychiatric unit after undergoing tests due to her state of confusion and agitation. 

The 92-year-old victim was found dead on Saturday night in her room at the care home. The death was discovered by a carer who found the victim lying in bed unconscious.  The autopsy showed she died because of asphyxiation caused by “strangulation and blows to the head”, a post-mortem examination concluded. Her face severely bruised and swollen.

It is still not possible to interrogate the women, however, it has become an open investigation into a homicide against a person vulnerable due to their physical condition. Trinh told AFP that the women will undergo a psychological examination to determine if she is criminally responsible for her actions at that time and is eligible for penal sanction.