A 66-year-old Florida woman has been charged with murder in the death of her 97-year-old mother after she admitted killing her mother at the mother’s request.
Martha Jo Blake is charged with first degree murder after an autopsy revealed that her mother died from suffocation or strangulation, the Palm Beach Post reported. The autopsy found she had a fresh neck fracture, an internal hemorrhage on both sides of her neck and an indication that something had been placed over her face.
She was ordered held without bond at least until a pretrial detention hearing.
Deputies came to the Blake family home just before 8 a.m. on Friday, her arrest report says, and found Patricia Blake dead. Martha Jo Blake told investigators she had been her mother’s primary caregiver for five years and that she suffered from Parkinson’s disease and a thyroid disorder.
Initially, she told investigators she had last seen her mother a alive at about 10 p.m. on Thursday, WPEC reported.
Blake said her mother had told her she wanted to die because of her health issues and had previously discussed that matter with her primary care physician in Maine, where “Death with Dignity” is legal. It is not in Florida.
But the mother was ineligible for Maine’s Medical Aid in Dying program because her illnesses, while difficult and debilatating, were not terminal.
So, Blake said, she and her mother discussed other options, including pills, but the determined they didn’t have enough of those to kill her.
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[Featured image: Martha Jo Blake/Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office]
