Woman Smothered 79-Year-Old Mother With Pillow, Confessed Crime

A woman from Arizona was arrested after she admitted to killing her mother at their Scottsdale apartment Monday afternoon.

Sgt. Ben Hoster said a woman from the apartment complex called 911 Monday afternoon saying her neighbor asked her to dial the emergency number. On further questioning, the woman handed the phone to Holly Brennan, 46, who said she killed her mother. Officers arrived at the home the woman shared with her mother and found 79-year-old Sharon Simmons lying dead.

On further interrogation, Brennan told the responding officers that she smothered her mother with a pillow. Mike Bennett, a resident of the complex, said, he saw the accused confessing to the crime.

"They (officers) handcuffed her and sat her down on the ground, and then they wouldn't let me out that door because they taped it all off. She said, 'I did it, I smothered her with a pillow,' and I'm like, ‘Am I hearing this?’" he said, AZ Family reported.

Bennett also added that he bumped into Brennan on Monday morning.

"I said, ‘Hey, how you doing?’ And she gives me this blank stare, like [I’ve] got three heads or something,” Bennett said.

Police said the woman and the victim lived together for several years and there were domestic violence issues involving the two in the past. Police said they believe the accused had hurt the victim in the past.

Speaking to 12 News, neighbors said Simmons was a nice and friendly person but they did not like the way her daughter treated her. The neighbors also added that they heard the two arguing on several occasions.

“She was a very nice lady. Everybody in the apartment complex just loved her," said Ross Blaisdell, a resident of the complex told ABC 15. Bennett said the victim “was a sweet lady. The daughter was a little sketchy.”

Brennan was taken into custody and charged with first degree murder. Investigation was ongoing to find out the cause of the murder.

In a similar incident in April, a woman from Lancaster, California, was arrested after she allegedly killed her mother. Officers responded to a home and found a woman suffering from blunt force trauma to the upper torso. The woman’s 19-year-old daughter, Destiny Hammack, was detained at the scene and taken into custody after interrogation. She was charged with murder.