Dora Jordan, 93, right, died in October 2021 after she was left on her bedroom floor for days without food or water at her Georgia home. Now her granddaughter Angela Nicole Patton and Patton’s boyfriend David Glyn Smith, left, are charged with murder. (Haralson County Sheriff’s Office; Obituary)
A 93-year-old Georgia woman was left to die on her bedroom floor without any food or water and now her granddaughter and granddaughter’s boyfriend are facing murder charges.
The Haralson County Sheriff’s Office on Saturday arrested Angela Nicole Patton, 42, and her boyfriend David Glyn Smith, 50, after a grand jury indicted the couple on charges of felony murder and cruelty to a person 65 years or older, a press release said. Dora Jordan died on Oct. 27, 2021, one month after authorities found her on her bedroom floor.
On Sept. 27, 2021, Haralson County Sheriff Stacy Williams went out to a home for a welfare check on an elderly person and he heard a “faint cry for help.” He went inside and found Jordan on the bedroom floor in a “very weak condition.” Deputies determined that Jordan suffered a fall and had been without food or water for an “extended period of time.” The next evening Patton, her supposed caregiver, and Smith returned home and deputies arrested them on a charge of cruelty to a person 65 years or older, deputies said.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s Medical Examiner’s Office in March 2022 ruled the manner of death was a homicide, leading Haralson County to reopen the investigation. After a “lengthy and thorough investigation” the grand jury indicted Patton and Smith on Dec. 4.
Patton and Smith hid in a garage on a property in nearby Floyd County and allegedly refused to come out when deputies arrived on Saturday. Deputies obtained a search warrant for the shed and busted in to arrest them. The suspects were escorted to the Haralson County Jail where they remain without bond.
“This case shocked the consciousness of so many citizens when we made the original arrest. Good people don’t understand how anyone could mistreat an elderly person, much less a grandparent. This case became even worse when Mrs. Jordan passed away from this treatment,” Williams said in a statement.
Jordan’s obituary said the great-great grandmother loved to cross stitch, oil paint and read books. She was a huge fan of the Atlanta Braves, who were in the middle of the World Series at the time of her death and would go on to win the title over the Houston Astros.
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