The son of an 80-year-old woman who was stabbed to death in an Indiana hospital has been charged in his mother’s murder, police said.
Rodney Louis Dickinson is charged with stabbing Margrine Haywood at Methodist Hospital in Merrillville, Indiana, according to the Merrillville Police Department.
Haywood was fatally stabbed in an assault at around 12:30 a.m. Friday. Her 88-year-old husband, James Haywood, was also found slain at the couple’s home in the 1500 block of Hovey Street in Gary shortly after 3 a.m., but charges have not yet been filed in his death.
A Certified Nursing Assistant told police she watched a man walk into Haywood's room “acting weird,” according to an affidavit released Saturday. The CNA asked the man if she could help him and Haywood told her the man was her son.
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Haywood suffered stab wounds to her chest and was pronounced dead at 1:50 a.m., officials said. A registered nurse working during the incident told police Haywood managed to speak to her before losing consciousness, telling the nurse that her son “Rodney” killed her, police said.
A large kitchen knife was recovered from the scene, according to the affidavit.
Hospital staff expressed concern for Haywood’s 88-year-old husband living in Gary and Gary Police officers conducting a well-being check at the home later found James Haywood murdered.
Dickinson was taken into custody near his home, in the 3800 block of Maryland Street in Gary.
He told detectives he was the caretaker for the couple and said Gary officers called him at home and told him his mother was dead.
The hospital facility was placed on lockdown for several hours following the incident. It was the second Chicago-area hospital lockdown that week after Mount Sinai Hospital on the city’s West Side was locked down Thursday morning for a “possible threat.”
