Eaton woman pleads guilty to drowning 93-year-old grandmother

EATON — A woman accused of killing her 93-year-old grandmother has changed her plea.

Heidi Matheny, 35, of Eaton, appeared in Preble County Common Pleas Court Friday to change her plea to guilty. News Center 7 was in court when the judge accepted her change of plea.

Matheny was arrested in November after police found her grandmother, Alice Matheny, deceased in a bathtub on East Somers Street.

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

A police report obtained through a News Center 7 public records request stated Matheny 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.”

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

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

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

After her competence and sanity to stand trial came into question, Matheny was ordered to be evaluated in December. She was found competent to stand trial in January.

Matheny is facing 15 years to life in prison. She’s scheduled to be sentenced on March 15.

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