The incident occurred at Astoria Place of Waterville on September 24, 2025, when staff discovered Resident 53 unresponsive and face down in another resident's room. A towel was wrapped around her neck.
Resident 29 was found standing in the room, rocking back and forth.
When the police officer arrived on scene, he saw a group of nurses and aides gathered in Resident 55's room. The victim, Resident 53, was lying face down on the floor with the towel around her neck. Resident 55 was not in the room at the time.
A nurse told the officer the door had been closed. When staff opened it, they found Resident 29 standing inside, rocking back and forth. They pulled back the privacy curtains and discovered Resident 53 unresponsive on the floor.
By the time the officer interviewed him, Resident 29 was sitting at a table in the lounge area with a nurse aide and another resident.
The officer asked Resident 29 what happened. He responded: "I don't know, she was down and choked me, stabbed me, then took off."
When the officer questioned who had choked and stabbed him, Resident 29 changed his story. "No she didn't choke me, he choked me and stuck me. I don't know his name."
The officer asked if he was hurt. Resident 29 said: "No I'm alright, she was breathing when I was in there. I couldn't do anything to her."
Another resident at the table asked Resident 29 if he was going home after this incident.
"No, I am going to prison, death row," Resident 29 responded.
The officer pressed him about why Resident 53 was on the floor. "She's dead, I guess. She wasn't dead," Resident 29 said.
When asked if he had touched Resident 53, he admitted: "Oh yeah."
The officer asked where he had touched her.
"Around the neck," Resident 29 said.
The Director of Nursing walked into the room and introduced herself to the officer. Resident 29 turned around and told her: "You see, I killed her."
The Director of Nursing mentioned to investigators that Resident 29 had been in jail for a long time, but she didn't know what kind of crime he had committed.
The county coroner's case summary revealed extensive injuries consistent with strangulation. The victim suffered petechial hemorrhages involving her face and forehead, bilateral upper and lower petechial conjunctival hemorrhages, and facial congestion.
The coroner found a faint shallow ligature mark on the front of her neck consistent with a cloth ligature. There was deep hemorrhaging in the right-sided strap muscle and anterior cervical soft tissue hemorrhage.
Additional injuries included cerebral vascular congestion and a faint purple contusion on the right side of her neck.
The cause of death was strangulation, occurring within minutes. The cause of injury was noted as strangulation with a cloth ligature.
The manner of death was ruled homicide.
The facility's policy on abuse, mistreatment, neglect, exploitation and misappropriation of resident property, last reviewed in May 2025, states that residents have the right to be free from abuse. The policy defines abuse as the willful infliction of injury resulting in physical harm.
The policy defines serious bodily injury as an injury involving extreme physical harm, though the inspection report cuts off before completing this definition.
Federal inspectors cited the facility for failing to protect residents from abuse, finding that the incident caused actual harm to few residents.
The inspection was conducted as a complaint investigation on September 30, 2025, six days after the fatal incident occurred.
The facility failed to prevent a resident with an apparent criminal history from accessing another resident's room and committing a fatal assault. Staff discovered the scene only after the attack had already taken place, finding the door closed and the perpetrator standing over his victim.
The victim died from strangulation injuries inflicted by another resident who openly admitted to the crime, telling staff and police officers that he had killed her and expected to go to prison or death row for his actions.
The case represents a catastrophic failure of resident protection at the nursing home, where a vulnerable resident was killed by another resident in what the coroner determined was a homicide by strangulation.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Astoria Place of Waterville from 2025-09-30 including all violations, facility responses, and corrective action plans.