London, Dec 13 (ANI): A 98-year-old American woman has been accused of killing her roommate, aged 100, in a nursing home.

Dementia sufferer Laura Lundquist is believed to have killed Elizabeth Barrow in their room at the Brandon Woods Nursing Home, Massachusetts.

Barrow was found dead in bed with a plastic bag tied around her head on September 24.

Although at first it appeared to be a suicide but autopsy reports revealed that Barrow was strangled to death.

Lundquist has been charged with second degree murder and has been sent to a state mental hospital for a competency evaluation before her arraignment, reports The Times.

Her defence attorney, Carl Levin, said she has a “long-standing diagnosis of dementia, as well as issues of cognitive impairment.”

Barrows’ son, Scott claims Lundquist had complained about the number of visitors his mother received and had made threatening and harassing remarks to her.

He said his mother told him she did not want to leave her room because she had previously shared it with her husband for several years before he died in 2007.

The day his mother died, Scot claims he saw Lundquist being wheeled away from the room.

Barrow said: “She said to me, ‘You’re going to blame me for this … but you’re wrong’.”

District Attorney Sam Sutter said Lundquist suffered from paranoia and “harboured hostility toward the victim” and thought Barrow “was taking over the room they shared.”

Sutter said that Lundquist is believed to be the oldest murder defendant in state history, but admitted the case was unlikely to ever go to trial as a result of her mental health issues. (ANI)