CRIME, POLICE + COURTS
Taylorsville woman arrested in connection with her mother’s death
Oct 24, 2020, 10:31 AM | Updated: 12:40 pm
(UPD Investigators at the murder scene in Taylorsville. Credit: Paul Nelson)
(UPD Investigators at the murder scene in Taylorsville. Credit: Paul Nelson)
TAYLORSVILLE – An elderly woman was found dead in her Taylorsville home and investigators believe her daughter was the one who killed her.
Police were called to the home on Middlesex Road around 8:30 Friday morning. There, investigators say 84-year-old Carol Donlay was found dead in her bed with signs of trauma to the body.
Unified Police Sergeant Melody Cutler says, “We have her daughter in custody and we believe that she is responsible for this homicide. They reside together and this will be classified as a domestic violence homicide.”
The medical examiner will have to determine the exact cause of death, and investigators aren’t sure of the motive. However, family members say the suspect is schizophrenic and has needed better mental health care for a long time.
Donlay’s granddaughter, Kristina Fredrickson, says she first knew something was wrong when she got a call at four a.m. She says her grandmother’s pacemaker went offline, and the hospital called to warn her.
She says, “The hospital called me, then I called my sister and made her come over here to see if my grandma was OK. I was right behind her.”
Fredrickson says her sister was the one who found Donlay’s body. She says she has been trying to get her mother the help she needs, to no avail.
“There should be more help for people with mental health issues. It shouldn’t come to a situation like this to get the help that we need,” Fredrickson says. “We’ve tried over the last ten years to get her lots of different help, and it has just been turned away, multiple times.
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