Police have charged the daughter of an 84-year-old woman who was found dead last Friday in the pair’s Taylorsville home.
Lori Lee Donlay has been charged with first degree murder in Salt Lake’s 3rd District court in the death of Carol Donlay.
The deceased woman’s granddaughter called police around 8:30 a.m. to report Carol Donlay was dead. Investigators found Donlay in her bed and said the “scene seemed a little suspicious to them,” UPD spokesperson Sgt. Melody Cutler said.
The home is located in the 1200 block of West Middlesex Road.
Cutler said there was some blood and “other items in the house” that indicated Carol Donlay had not died of natural causes.
A probable cause statement says officers found a blood trail from Donlay’s room into her 59-year-old daughter’s room and a bloody knife on the bathroom counter between the two rooms, and that it appeared Donlay had been stabbed multiple times in the chest.
In an interview with police, according to the probable cause statement, the daughter said her mother “deserved it, and now she’s in a better place.” She also told police she planned to plead guilty to the homicide and go to prison.
Donlay was a “very good grandmother,” Kristina Fredrickson, Donlay’s granddaughter, told FOX 13. "Sweet all the way around.”
Donlay loved old movies and music, Fredrickson said.
“And used to always sing ‘You are my Sunshine’ and ‘Over the Rainbow’ all the time,” she added.
Fredrickson said her mother — Lori Lee Donlay — has schizophrenia and was sometimes violent, but had been staying with Carol Donlay since the older women got sick to take care of her.
“And it’s been a mess,” Fredrickson said.
Fredrickson said the family had tried multiple times over the years to get her mother help for her mental illness, but they never had luck and were often turned away.
She said maybe now her mother will get treatment.
“It’s sad that it took this to get the help that she needs,” Fredrickson said.
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