Margaret Kearney, 69, of Pasco County, is accused of killing her terminally sick partner in the first degree with premeditation, as per the authorities.
On December 20, a home healthcare worker discovered the victim, who had terminal rectal cancer, dead in their New Port Richey home.
Kearney had been living with the victim for more than 15 years, the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office found out when they responded to the location for a death investigation.
One of her friends for over 30 years told the police that she was becoming increasingly disgusted with taking care of her partner, especially as his health grew worse.
The statement states that Kearney had indicated hesitation to take care of her boyfriend’s medical needs, especially concerning his cancer-related urination. Her preference, it seems, was to wait for hospice care to take care of his cleaning needs.
The friend disclosed that on the evening of December 20, Kearney called her and admitted to having “smothered the victim with a pillow until he was ‘gone.'” Allegedly, Kearney intended to conceal his face with a blanket so that it would seem as though he passed away while he was sleeping.
On December 21, Kearney allegedly admitted to using a pillow to suffocate her partner and that she felt better about the situation during a controlled phone call. At a later police interrogation, Kearney acknowledged that he had covered the victim’s face with a pillow for as long as five minutes.
In addition to claiming that she was acting to keep her partner from hurting any further, Kearney also talked about purposefully giving him too much liquid morphine. Kearney is being jailed without bond following his arrest.