Elderly woman, 87, did not accidentally fell to death down flight of stairs: Granddaughter admits

3years ago

Rowan County news, North Carolina news.

A North Carolina Medical Examiner raised detectives’ suspicions when he claimed that an 87-year-old woman did not likely fell down a flight of stairs accidentally like they thought but may have been pushed to her death.

For the next year, the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office conducted a thorough investigation in an attempt to uncover who could have been behind Peggy Austin’s fatal fall down the stairs at her home in October 2019.

Authorities learned that Austin was living with her 28-year-old granddaughter Sarah Elizabeth Smith and Smith’s boyfriend, 43-year-old Brandon Scott Joines.

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  • The trio lived on the elderly woman’s funds. The couple was a drug addict and had no other known source of income.

    But without evidence, Smith could not be accused of murder. On December 23, officers apprehended the woman and her boyfriend on embezzlement charges.

    Rowan County officials continued to put pressure on the suspected couple before Smith decided to confess to purposely push her grandma down the stairs over money.

    Smith was charged with second-degree murder, possession of a controlled substance, and related drug charges. Further charges are pending.