Woman charged in Bedford murder

BEDFORD, Ind. (AP) - A southern Indiana woman has been charged with murdering her grandmother in September 2002.
     
A Lawrence County grand jury on Tuesday indicted Shay White, 32, of Bedford, who was arrested by Bedford police later that day. She is being held without bond in the Lawrence County Jail, about 20 miles south of Bloomington.
     
White's grandmother Erma Prince, 82, died Sept. 16, 2002, at Dunn Memorial Hospital while recovering from hip surgery. Authorities exhumed her body in March 2003, and an autopsy revealed she had been drugged with the painkiller Darvon.
     
Lawrence County Coroner John Sherrill ruled Prince's death a homicide after hospital records showed the drug was not administered to Prince by a doctor or member of the hospital staff. Also, the drug was not missing or used at the hospital in the hours surrounding Prince's death.
     
Bedford police said they seized some of the painkillers from White's home, where Prince had been living before her death.
     
Erma Prince's grandson, Scott Prince, said White routinely lied about his grandmother's health.
     
"She told us Grandma had stomach cancer," he said.
     
He also said White took his grandmother casket-shopping.
     
White, who claims the hospital is responsible for Prince's death, declined interview requests from The Indianapolis Star. White's attorney could not be reached for comment.
     
      (Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)