PASCO COUNTY, Fla. — A Florida woman is accused of suffocating her terminally ill boyfriend, who was under hospice care, with a pillow last month, authorities said.
According to the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office online booking records, Margaret A. Kearney, 69, of New Port Richey, was arrested Jan. 2 and faces a charge of first-degree murder.
Kearney allegedly admitted to suffocating Gary Polony, her boyfriend of 15 years, on Dec. 20, the Tampa Bay Times reported. According to an arrest affidavit from the sheriff’s office, Polony was under home hospice care for rectal cancer.
Polony was discovered by a hospice nurse the next day, according to WFLA-TV.
On Dec. 21, deputies met with a witness who said she had been a friend of Kearney’s for more than 30 years, according to the arrest affidavit. The witness told investigators that Kearney had expressed “disgust” with having to clean up after Polony and would wait for the nurses to arrive the next day to do the job, the Times reported.
According to the arrest affidavit, the witness allegedly told investigators that she received a telephone call from Kearney at about 10:36 p.m. EST. Kearney allegedly told the witness that she had smothered Polony and that he was “gone,” adding that she covered the victim with a sheet and would sleep on the couch. When the nurse arrived in the morning, she would assume that Polony had died in his sleep, Kearney said, according to the affidavit.
Kearney allegedly admitted to smothering Polony, the affidavit stated. She said the victim was complaining of pain, so she decided to lay next to him in the bed and use a pillow to cover his face for five minutes, smothering him. Polony was “alive and alert” when she used the pillow but was no longer breathing after five minutes, the affidavit stated.
Kearney told investigators that she killed Polony to prevent him from being in further pain, WFLA reported. She added that she intentionally overmedicated Polony with liquid morphine to help him with his pain, according to the television station.
According to online booking records, Kearney remains in the Pasco County Jail in Land O’ Lakes. Bail was set at $250,000, records show.
Kearney has pleaded not guilty to the charges, court records show. A trial date has not been set.
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