Police treating Bennington nursing home attack as homicide

Bennington, Vermont - November 29, 2010

Police in Bennington are investigating an elderly woman's death as a homicide.

They say 84-year-old Dorothy Papero was a resident of Crescent Manor Nursing Home in Bennington where she was receiving care for dementia.

Last Wednesday, detectives say she walked into another dementia patient's room by mistake and that man thought she was an intruder. Police say 58-year-old Rodolfo Davalos knocked Papero to the ground then fell on top of her. She suffered a head wound, nine broken ribs and other injuries. She died Friday at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center.

Police are treating the case as a homicide and have handed it over to Bennington County State's Attorney Erica Marthage. She has not decided whether to charge Davalos, saying cases involving incapacitated patients are tricky to prosecute.

Police say there were no witnesses.

Jack Thurston - WCAX News

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Police treating Bennington nursing home attack as homicide - WCAX.COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-

Police treating Bennington nursing home attack as homicide

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