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PHILADELPHIA -- A Roxborough woman is charged with murder after a Willow Grove funeral home made a disturbing discovery while embalming the body of a 70-year-old woman with special needs who appeared to have died of natural causes.
After Kathleen Mcewan died inside her apartment at a group home on the 300 block of Parker Avenue on June 10, her body was sent to the John J. Byers Funeral Home on Easton Road. While funeral workers prepared Mcewan’s body the next day they found up to 10 inches of rope and a candy wrapper stuffed in her throat, according to a report on Philly.com.
"When I went to move it or take it out, it had enough resistance that I stopped right away and realized that it was something that shouldn't be in there," funeral worker Ryan Hurt told NBC10's Monique Braxton.
See the original report at Philadelphia's NBC10.com
"I've done this for 20 some years, on thousands of people, and obviously I knew right away this didn't appear to be a natural cause of death," funeral director Jeff Thompson told Philly.com. "We called the medical examiner."
The rope Thompson found is comparable to the drawstring of a hooded sweatshirt or sweatpants, police told NBC10.
Detectives confirmed to NBC10 that a rope up to 10 inches long and a candy wrapper were found in Mcewan's throat. Mcewan's special needs and the fact that she had no family required her to get around-the-clock care, cops said.
On Wednesday, officers arrested Geraldine Cherry, who lives in the Parker Place Apartments, Philadelphia Police tell NBC10.
Watch US News crime videos on msnbc.com
Cherry, 50, was arraigned Wednesday on murder and weapons charges, according to court papers.
She is set to have a preliminary hearing next month.
The relationship between Mcewan and Cherry isn’t clear nor is it clear if they lived in the same unit at Parker Place. Philadelphia Police didn't tell NBC10 if they have a motive for the alleged crime.
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Leave a Comment:
Note to self. Remove murder weapon from corpse.
Many special needs people have Pica, which causes them to grab and eat anything (and everything!) they can get their hands on.
Murder is questionable at best here. "Stuffed in her throat' would not look any different if she stuffed it in or someone else did.
Yup. could have been an accident.
I would have probably called it a string or cord and candy wrapper...but "rope" sounds much better...I think "Ellie May" was the last person who held up her pants with rope...good call "Dan Stamm"
I'm not sure how you could prove that this "rope and wrapper" were stuffed in her mouth, and not eaten
Where's Columbo when ya need him? I'm sure he'd say to the Medical Examiner... "Sir, if you don't mind me sayin' so, that's an odd way to tie up loose ends"
"I've done this for 20 some years, on thousands of people, and obviously I knew right away this didn't appear to be a natural cause of death,"
There's just no substitute for education and experience.
I agree with vttova. I worked with a guy that was special needs that would shove about 4-5 inches of a corner of the blanket or anything else he had down his throat if you didn't keep a watch on him. He died one night after the night caregiver accidentally left a latex glove on his nightstand next to his bed and he got a hold of it and choked to death on it. It was after I didn't work there any more and the caregiver responsible ended up convicted of criminal neglect.
It would seem that the logical thing to do is find out where those items she choked on came from. There had to be some reason they charge Cherry with murder since it's not clear what their relationship to each other were.
Another aptitude to add to your Skill Set, able to detect rope (string) in mouth after one thousand autopsies.
vttova, that was my first thought, too. I'm guessing (and hoping) that there must be other evidence to support a murder charge, but the candy wrapper seems strange, and extraneous if your goal was to kill someone. Sounds more like something a person with Pica would ingest on their own.
Not near enough information to really have any educated opinion. But if the police charged the woman with murder, then I am guessing that there must be some other facts to this case that are just not out yet. I will hold off on any kind of opinion until more information surfaces.
Poorly written ... way too many unanswered questions ... like ... was the rope the cause of death ... & why did the arrest this person????
In the intial report the funeral director said he found the string lodged deep in her throat.
It appears either a reporter or a law enforcement officer came up with the phrase "a rope stuffed in her throat" to sensationalize the report.
a string from a hoodie...and a candy wrapper...hope it doesn't turn out to be...skittles related...
heard ;; the suspect said...you better not lay a finger on my butter finger...
Does anyone at MSNBC have writing skills? I think it would be nice to see sentences finished, among other grammatical failures.
Their editorial staff live in Calcutta,what do you expect?
Yep! it would be nice if everyone knew how too spell and finnish a sentence, but then again, Not everyone is as SMARTASS YOU ! HaHaHa ! LOL
"...how too spell and finnish..."
I'm so sorry, I thought you were kidding.
I can't understand why some people nitpick about everything they read. Are you just trying to show some people how great you are or do you people just git a kick out of being a critic? Or are you a paid Republican troll that was sent to MSNBC.msn.com to find fault?
Although they may be connected just as Chevy and Buick are connected, this story was written by Dan Stamm of NBC10.com which is a TV station in Philadelphia. MSNBC is a cable station with different people and as I've mentioned elsewhere, they may not have the right to edit copyrighted material they never wrote. Gee people...get a life will you.
Larry-2260635
It is called setting the example. MSNBC is SUPPOSED to be a professional media outlet, whether a story is written in house or off the wire. They frequently "report" on the failed education system and poor abilities of not only the USA but other nations. Not so long ago ALL news stories in the media were actually reviewed by not only an editor, but a proofreader. We now have spellcheckers built into our writing tools and they still can't get the basics of English correct. THAT is the point of the nitpicking.
public593 is a prime example of WHY we need proofreaders. Unless he is from Finland and thus Finnish of course.
Yeah, I was wondering how they found anything in her fault, myself.
trust_verify
public593 is a blogger just as you and I are. Everyone makes mistakes as I have a spellchecker but is does not correct grammar. My point is that MSNBC is only putting these articles on their web page for your convenience (and to make money) and does not or maybe legally not able to correct mistakes in copyrighted material.
Granted I have seen articles written by MSNBC writers that were bad but I take the content of it as a source of information without taking it as fact without another source. I never worry about the wording or misused words or G W Bush would have drove me crazy. I always felt that if it bothered people so much to see typos then they should stick to newspapers and books. In other words stay away from blogs as they are not run by the brightest of minds.
So which one is your motivation? You've posted comments about other people's posts twice now. Ah, sweet irony!
I guess someone had a piece of candy while fishing...
"Detectives confirmed to NBC10 that a rope up to 10 inches long and a candy wrapper were found in Mcewan's fault."
Did they mean 'throat'???
Apparently they don't proofread their articles.
I sometimes wonder if they plant this stuff just to see how many people read past the headlines.
They're just testing the public's educational level. Writting is a lost art, I can't even read my own hand writting anymore.
Really? He has been doing this for 20 years and he had to tug on the string to figure out it did not belong in there? EMS didn't notice anything? I realize she was under medical care but someone dropped the ball here to not notice a string in the deceased throat.
Not necessarily, depending on when she died, there could have been pooling of blood already or rigor at which point they don't attempt resuscitation and simply called the coroner, so there isn't necessarily a surprise there as far as EMS is concerned.
And, depending on the circumstances, autopsies aren't necessarily done either and that happens all the time, especially more so in the elderly. Unfortunately there just isn't any information in this article to ascertain what decisions were made.
Mitchell
She got strung along in old age........
Goes to show life just isn't as sweet at that age.
There's a huge difference between a "rope" and a "drawstring." This story is sad for so many reasons and my thoughts and prayers go out to the woman who died.
To the reporter writing this story, please look up the definition of ROPE and then the definition of DRAWSTRING.
heather meadows
Agreed. But you may be surprised what the word ROPE means.
Rope is what most of us refer to as steel cable
What most of us refer to as rope is called line
the drawstring would be considered a thin piece of line.
No, rope is what most of us refer to as rope, just as aspirin is what most of us think is taken orally for a headache and not placed between the knees as contraceptive.
"Rope is what most of us refer to as steel cable"
Maybe where you're from but here rope means Rope (as in Hemp rope or some other fiber not steel cable.)
Down heah in the 'OOOL Patch' We got 'Waaar Rope'. Tough to swaller. Farly easy to get in to a 'sitiation' with another Worm, or even the 'Pusher', ....and get strung with, then yanked up to the 'top deck'. Bummer going through that top wheel. Coroner wouldn't know where to start. which 'shred' of evidence to inspect?
Steel cable is called WIRE ROPE, Rope is Rope
No need to worry with the reporting ability of msnbc and nbc I don't think they will be around for too many more years. They are starting to fall apart fast. Reporters that don't understand the terminology of subjects they are trying to report on, misspellings that would throw a fifth grade teacher into fits. As well as many many instances of failing to report the full story or omitting parts of it to make it seem like something else then what did happen.
Dumbed down texting generation, they can barely write their own name as you use only one thumb......
All the 24 hour news franchises are declining in quality.
Their attempts to gather audiences to sell commercials are getting more and more transparent. They pander to their audiences in more and more ridiculous ways, afraid constantly of losing their core audience if they don't.
And I agree that the quality of writing on MSNBC is atrocious... I worked for many years as a technical editor. It was my job to find grammatical errors, incorrect word choices, and so forth. It's obvious they don't have editors (I think they're called "copy editors" in journalism) reviewing articles before they're posted.
about period needed
No need to worry
with^ the reporting ability of msnbc and nbc^ I don't think they will be around fortoo many more years. They are starting to fall apart fast. Reporters that don't understand the
terminology of subjects they are trying to report on, misspellings that would throw a fifth grade
teacher into fits. (Incomplete sentence)
As well as many many instances of failing to report the full story or omitting parts of it to make it seem
like something else then what did happen. (As above, incomplete sentence)
Get out of your glass house and take a walk.
Thought this was an article on a dead lady with rope down her throat, not English 101. Who needs proper english when you've got texting and tweeter. Not enough character space to be proper.
Rtsob I don't claim to be a PAID journalist. I don't make my living writing articles for publication. Get off YOUR high horse and kiss my @$$
the funeral home looks more like a small town church then anything else and the chairs are value brand not the funeral hom id like to be embolmed at or anything else for that matter
This is what happens when you outsource to people who have english as a 3rd or 4th language.
String and candy wrappers are not the tools of someone who wants to murder. It was an accident. Let her go.
Wished they told us why the cops knew it was Cherry. Can't comment until I have all the pieces of the puzzle.
From the peanut factory without enough info on solving this case.
I knew a guy in Florida back in the early 80's that told me his girlfriend liked candy bars in more than one way, but he never said anything about tying a rope to them. Chuck if your reading this, how are ya?
What harm could a 70 year old woman do. Why was she murdered in this way. May God bless her soul. May her soul Rest in Peace. GOD BLESS THE USA.
Kevin Valentine Moraes
Mira Road (Thane)
Good to know,
When I stuff something 10" long down a woman's throat, it may kill her.........
Oh my gosh--don't you wish!
Don't be overstaing things lukewarm.
Ouch.
his ruler probably... has the first 8 inches missing...
dominican roba /morphine carnival banned, rereg of multiple accounter Morphine Carnival/l/.
Note to self, be sure to have a nest egg that will keep me out of a home like this when I get old.
While caring for mentally disabled people,I once had a man who chronically stuffed his mouth full of food,like a chipmunk,and when he tried to swallow would choke.He went to the ER many times for aspirating food into his lungs.Another time I found a lady who had wound the cord of the window blinds around her neck and was hanging.Thank goodness we were able to get her loose in time.A resident who watched her do it said she was playing with the blind and started "spinning around". If we had not found her in time her death would probably been ruled a suicide,or,in the creative mind of a medical examiner, a murder.Both objects in the dead woman's throat would have been easily accessible to her.The woman charged should certainly be given the benefit of the doubt.What,the candy wrapper wasn't working so she stuffed the cord in next?
I heard she also had a license plate and a boot in her stomach. Oh wait, that was some shark I read about.
Why was this found by the undertaker and not the coroner? I thought every case, even deaths that are "obviously" of natural causes, had an autopsy?? They just picked up the body and took it to the undertaker?
My understanding is that cases that appear to be natural causes aren't automatically autopsied. A seventy year old woman with special needs (and probably other health problems) who's found dead in her own apartment with no apparent signs of trauma wouldn't necessarily be given an autopsy. And if she had obviously been dead for a while when EMS was called (if they were), they wouldn't have attempted resuscitation, and wouldn't have necessarily noticed anything in her throat. The fact this was discovered by a mortician isn't as interesting to me as the fact that they've arrested another resident of the group home for the murder.
I'll bet the special needs woman has eaten a piece of candy without permission
and her 'caretaker' decided to 'teach her a lesson'.
I am curious about the 50 year old with weapons charges???
Did they catch her concealing more rope and candy wrappers?
Nobody does homework anymore . . .
[SOURCE: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/pennsylvania/20120622_Chex_mix__rope__diaper_found_in_70-year-old_s_throat.html ]
Hence, one reasonably might presume, the arrest warrant for Geraldine Cherry, really . . .
Really! :-o
Wow, a BLIND woman kills another innocent woman...unbelievable. She is one nasty old lady that needs to stay in prison then.
Thanks for your research , I now don't feel that her roommate was being railroaded unjustly just to make the police, undertaker, etc. look good. I've had bad experiences with both over my love-ones ,police didn't have my son under suicide watch ( records disappeared ) and undertaker didn't photograph footprint on his back as they promised to do ( sheriff calmed he hung himself )and 5 earlier years he had tried to cut his wrist while in the same jail while high on meth.