Indianapolis Man Charged For Allegedly Raping, Murdering 80-Year-Old Fellow Nursing Home Resident

A 60-year-old Indianapolis nursing home resident was charged Tuesday for allegedly raping and murdering an 80-year-old woman in the facility.

Dwayne Freeman was arrested on Feb. 3 in connection with the death of the woman, the Indianapolis Police Department said in a Facebook post. Authorities said the officers were dispatched to Homestead Healthcare Center at 7465 Madison Avenue after receiving a report about a deceased woman. Upon arrival, they deemed the circumstances around the woman's death to be suspicious.

The man was arrested on the spot. The Marion County Coroner's Office on Monday identified the woman as Patricia Newnum, WISH-TV reported. The coroner’s office ruled her death a homicide and determined she died by asphyxiation due to smothering.

Newnum was reportedly in hospice care.

The police said a nurse had gone into Newnum's room at around 5 a.m. on Feb. 3 to give her some medication, and found Freeman on top of her with a pillow on her face, another WISH-TV article reported, citing court documents. An empty bottle of alcohol was found in Newnum's room, and the hospital employees could smell alcohol on Freeman's breath.

Freeman originally told the police Newnum "was already dead" when he entered the room, and said he "was no killer," the court documents said. Freeman later admitted to having sexual intercourse with Newnum, but added it was consensual and initiated by the woman.

Freeman is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday.

In a similar incident in June 2021, a 28-year-old man in California was arrested for allegedly raping a 58-year-old paraplegic woman. The suspect, Raul Alzaga, allegedly broke into the disabled woman's house by removing screens from a window and forcing his way into the victim's room, where he sexually assaulted her. The disabled victim -- paralyzed from the waist down -- allegedly prayed out loud during the break-in, telling Alzaga, "I'm praying for you, God loves you." Alzaga had allegedly broken into another house and sexually assaulted a female resident there, just hours before raping the victim. He was arrested in the city of Panama.