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Brooklyn nursing home resident, 95, accused of beating roommate, 89, to death
Editor's note: The above video aired in a previous newscast.
CONEY ISLAND, Brooklyn (PIX11) --- A 95-year-old Brooklyn nursing home resident was caught washing the blood off her hands when her 89-year-old roommate was found dead in her bed, covered with bloody gash marks on her face and head, prosecutors said.
Galina Smirnova, 95, is accused of beating Nina Kravtsov, 89, to death with the leg of a wheelchair in the room they shared at the Seagate Rehabilitation and Nursing Center on West 29th Street in Coney Island Sunday night, according to the criminal complaint.
Sources said Smirnova and the victim got into a fight before the deadly attack.
The defendant was arraigned on murder and weapons charges on Wednesday. Smirnova, who suffers from dementia, is being held without bail after her lawyer refused a mental health exam, according to a spokesperson for the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office.
Nursing home staff checked in on the victim just before 9 p.m. and found her sleeping in her bed in Room 333. But about an hour later, she was dead.
Kravtsov was found lying unresponsive in the bed, covered in blood with wounds to her face and head at around 9:55 p.m., according to the complaint.
Meanwhile, Smirnova was allegedly caught washing the blood off her hands in the bathroom sink, and her gown and legs drenched in blood, prosecutors said.
The nursing staff also spotted the bloody leg of the wheelchair in the room, while the other wheelchair leg was found outside underneath the window of Room 333, according to court documents.
Authorities said the victim suffered facial, head, and skull fractures and was pronounced dead at the hospital early Monday morning.
Smirnova was arrested Tuesday night and charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon. She pleaded not guilty to the charges.
It was unclear if the defendant would be held at a mental health facility or at Rikers Island.
Her lawyer, Erin Darcy, could not immediately be reached on Wednesday.