PASCO COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) — A Pasco County woman was charged after she admitted to smothering her boyfriend’s face with a pillow while he was in hospice care for terminal rectal cancer, according to an affidavit.
On Dec. 20, the victim was found dead at their New Port Richey home by a home healthcare nurse who went to the home to treat him.
The Pasco County Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene for the death investigation. The victim’s live-in girlfriend of over 15 years, 69-year-old Margaret Kearney, was at the home at the time of the investigation.
On Dec. 21, a friend of Kearney’s of over 30 years told authorities that she had several phone calls with Kearney concerning her boyfriend’s health status.
The friend said Kearney expressed disgust with having to care for her boyfriend as he was defecating himself due to the cancer and she didn’t want to clean him up. The friend said Kearney would wait for hospice to clean him, whenever their next visit was.
According to the affidavit, the friend said Kearney called her on Dec. 20 at about 10:36 p.m. and told her she “smothered the victim with a pillow and he was ‘gone.'” Kearney also allegedly told her friend that she planned to cover his face with a blanket so when the nurse came in the next day, they would assume he died in his sleep.
A controlled phone call was conducted on Dec. 21 around 10:07 a.m. in which Kearney said she felt better with the situation and confirmed using a pillow to smother her boyfriend.
In an interview with authorities, Kearney said her boyfriend called her into the bedroom, complaining of pain. That’s when she laid in the bed next to him and held a pillow on his face for up to five minutes, the affidavit said.
Kearney told officials her boyfriend was “alive and alert” before smothering him and then was not breathing after she removed the pillow minutes later.
According to the affidavit, Keanrey claimed she killed her boyfriend to prevent him from any further pain. She also said she intentionally over-medicated him with liquid morphine to help with the pain.
Kearney was arrested and charged with premeditated first-degree murder. She is being held on no bond.
