Police: Husband with dementia likely to be charged in death of wife in Penn Yan home

PEN YAN, N.Y. — An 89-year-old man who suffers from dementia likely will be charged in connection with the death of his wife, also 89, after both were found on the floor of their Penn Yan home at 2:37 p.m. Aug. 29.

Police say the woman was found after a home health aide went to the house — since nobody answered the door the day before — and found her dead on the bathroom floor. The woman’s husband was also found on the bathroom floor alive but in poor health; police say he appears to have fallen down. They are believed to have been there for at least two days, perhaps three, according to Penn Yan Police Chief Thomas Dunham.

Dunham said the last time someone is known to have had contact with them was Aug. 26.

Officials say the 89-year-old husband has dementia —”a pretty severe case,” Dunham said, and they believe he killed his wife by using a bath towel to strangle her.

Dunham said it doesn’t appear that there was anyone else in the home — there was no forced entry, nothing was disturbed, and valuables were all in place.

The woman’s body was taken to the Monroe County Medical Examiner’s Office and the husband was brought to Geneva General Hospital. Police say he is medically incapacitated and has not been able to communicate with anyone.

“No one expects this to happen with their family. By all accounts, the female involved here, the 89-year-old female, was in good health and with it and physically able and the husband had a severe case of dementia,” Dunham said

This investigation is ongoing. Dunham said the police are working with the Yates County District Attorney’s Office “to sort through this” and that the husband most likely will face criminal charges.