Margaret A. Kearney (Pasco County Sheriff’s Office)
A 69-year-old woman in Florida has been arrested after she admitted to killing her live-in boyfriend, a terminally ill cancer patient, by smothering him to death with a pillow after “expressing disgust” at having to care for him. Margaret A. Kearney was taken into custody last month and charged with one count of first-degree premeditated murder in the slaying of Gary Polony, court records reviewed by Law&Crime show.
According to a probable cause affidavit obtained by Law&Crime, a home health care worker assigned to treat Polony, who was under hospice care for terminal rectal cancer, on the morning of Dec. 20, 2023, discovered him dead inside the home he shared with Kearney. Deputies with the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene and said they “saw no concerning injuries” to Polony.
The following day, a witness who identified herself as being Kearney’s friend for more than 30 years came forward to report that Kearney had exhibited suspicious behavior in the days leading up to Polony’s death and then allegedly admitted to planning and killing him.
“The witness also said the defendant expressed disgust with having to care for the victim, as the victim was defecating himself due to his illness and she did not wish to clean him and would wait for Hospice or a home health care nurse to clean him next time they visited,” the affidavit states. “The witness advised that on 12/20/23 at approximately 2236 hours, she received a phone call from the defendant, who told her that she smothered the victim with a pillow and he was ‘gone.’ The witness relayed the defendant told her she planned to cover the victim with a blanket while he was dead in bed, sleep on the couch, and when the nurse came the following day, they would assume the victim died in his sleep.”
The witness then conducted a “controlled phone call” with Kearney. During the call, police say Kearney “mentioned that she was feeling better” about killing Polony and “confirmed that she used a pillow to smother the victim.”
In an interview with detectives later that day, Kearney allegedly admitted to intentionally over-medicating and then ultimately killing Polony at around 10:30 p.m. on Dec. 20 after he summoned her to his bedroom complaining about being in pain.
“The defendant said she made a decision to lay in bed next to the victim and place a pillow on his face for a duration of up to five minutes. The defendant confirmed the victim was alive and alert when she placed the pillow on the victim’s face and was no longer breathing when she removed the pillow,” the affidavit states. “The defendant claimed she made the decision on her own to kill the victim in order to prevent him from being in further pain. The defendant also acknowledged that she had been intentionally over-medicating the victim with liquid morphine, in order to help with him pain.”
Kearny is currently being held without bond in the Pasco County Jail.
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
