TAYLORSVILLE, Utah, Oct. 23, 2020 (Gephardt Daily) — An 84-year-old woman was found dead in her bed in Taylorsville on Friday, and her 58-year-old daughter is expected to be charged with domestic violence homicide, according to the Unified Police Department.
UPD spokeswoman Sgt. Melody Cutler told reporters at the scene Friday afternoon that officers were called Friday morning by the granddaughter of victim Carol Donlay.
“Our officers responded to the scene, where they found an 84-year-old woman deceased in her bed,” Cutler said. “Officers felt like things didn’t look quite right to them, so they contacted our violent crimes detectives, who responded to the scene. They subsequently determined this was a homicide, and they have taken into custody the daughter of our victim. She is currently being interviewed by our investigators, and will be booked into jail later today.”
Later Friday evening, the suspect was named as Lori Lee Donlay. Jail records showed she was charged with criminal homicide, a first-decree felony.
Cutler said at the scene that the motive is unknown.
“We don’t know the why. We don’t know the why at this point, but we are hoping that during that interview, it will give us some of those answers. They both lived here in this home…We’ve been made aware that the daughter does have some mental health history, so we don’t know if that played a role in what happened.”
Cutler said there were signs of trauma to the body, but no signs of a struggle. A forensics team was called in to process the house, and an autopsy had been ordered to determine time and cause of death, she said.
Gephardt Daily will have more information as it becomes available.
