$500,000 bond set for Eaton woman accused of drowning 93-year-old grandmother

EATON — A $500,000 bond has been set for a Preble County woman accused of drowning her 93-year-old grandmother.

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Heidi Matheny, 35, of Eaton was arrested and booked into the Preble County Jail Tuesday. She was formally charged with one count of murder and had her bond set Thursday, according to Eaton Municipal Court records.

Eaton police were dispatched to the 300 block of East Somers Street shortly before 6 p.m. on report of a possible homicide, according to a spokesperson for the police department.

Eaton Police Chief Steve Hurd previously told News Center 7 that Heidi admitted to officers she drowned her grandmother, Alice Matheny.

A police report obtained through a News Center 7 public records request stated Heidi told police that she went behind her grandmother while she was doing dishes and she held her head in the sink “until she stopped blowing bubbles.”

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Heidi told police she wasn’t sure if her grandmother was dead yet so she filled up the bathtub and held Alice under for 15 minutes until she stopped breathing and left her in the bathtub.

Afterward, Heidi walked from the apartment to the sheriff’s office.

Police asked Heidi what led up to the drowning and she said “nothing special, it was a day like any other day”, according to a police report.

Police arrived on the scene and found Alice deceased in the bathtub and her body was transported to the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office for an autopsy.

Police are not looking for other suspects in connection to the death investigation.

Matheny is scheduled to appear in court next on Tuesday.

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