An elderly woman with a history of homicidal tendencies toward roommates who made too much noise at night has been charged with the fatal beating of a woman who was her roommate at a nursing facility in San Jose.
The beating in question happened on December 13 at Mission Skilled Nursing and Subacute Center on Winchester Boulevard in San Jose, as Bay Area News Group reports. It wasn't immediately known by nursing staff what had happened to 98-year-old Vera Plares, who was found in bed with severe bruising and swelling on her face.
San Jose police were called to the scene, after staff had ruled out a fall — because she was found in the morning and would have been physically unable to get herself back into bed if she had fallen.
The following day, Plares was taken to Valley Medical Center, and her grandson documented her injuries which also included a swollen jaw, cracked tooth, and brusing on her arm and hand.
Plares ended up dying two days after the attack, on December 15. An autopsy would later conclude she died of blunt force injury to the head, compounded by cardiovascular disease.
Police determined that the prime suspect was Plares's roommate, 79-year-old Connie Jo Delucca. DNA testing found Plares's DNA on the end of Delucca's cane, and police established that Delucca could have struck Plares without leaving bed — the beds were 23 inches apart, as Bay Area News Group reports, via the police, and the cane is 32 inches long.
Earlier last year, police were called to the same facility after a staffer found Delucca "using her hand to cover the nose and mouth of a struggling 103-year-old woman," the news group reports. Delucca reportedly told police that she was "trying to kill" the woman, who was her roommate at the time, because she was "loud" at night — presumably due to snoring?
It does not sound like Delucca initially faced any charges in that incident, and reportedly told police that she may not have been in her "right mind" when the incident occurred.
Delucca was returned to the facility and assigned to a different room. The alleged attack on Plares occurred about eight months later.
Delucca now (ironically?) faces two counts of felony elder abuse — one for Plares, and one for the earlier incident — and one count of assault with a deadly weapon. She reportedly refused to appear in court for an arraignment on Wednesday, after being booked into Santa Clara County Main Jail on Monday. The hearing was rescheduled for today, and as Bay Area News Group reports, Judge Hector Ramon suspended the case pending a mental competency evaluation for Delucca.
Mission Skilled Nursing and Subacute Center and its parent company Covenant Care gave a statement to Bay Area News Group saying the staff was "saddened and shocked by these recent events." They also said they are "working with the resident’s family in an effort to seek resolution and will fully cooperate with applicable authorities as the matter is investigated."