Missouri Caregiver Charged in Killing of 94-Year-Old Woman

Court records say a Missouri man fatally stabbed a 94-year-old woman whom he was helping to care for and then left in an Uber.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that 54-year-old Tommie Coffer Jr. is charged with second-degree murder and armed criminal action in the Dec. 18 death of Geneva Richardson in her Florissant home. No attorney is listed for him in online court records. Bond is set at $500,000.

Coffer and his mother worked as caregivers for Richardson. They called authorities Dec. 19, saying they had found Richardson dead.

The death initially appeared accidental. But court records say medical examiners found three stab wounds to her face and defensive cuts to her hands. Police say bloodied items were found in a burn pile near where Coffer exited the Uber.