No homicide charges in grandmother's death

Lucille Tinker weighed just 59 pounds when she died in the care of her granddaughter, but her death was not a homicide, according to the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office.

Instead of filing first-degree homicide charges against her caretaker and granddaughter, prosecutors charged 37-year-old Susan Christin Alexander with aggravated abuse of an elder adult, a second-degree felony, this week in 3rd District Court.

"For a homicide, you have to show (Alexander) caused the death. In this case, death was the result of age. The evidence indicates (Tinker) was neglected and abused," DA's spokesman Kent Morgan said.

Alexander was arrested on a $10,000 warrant and booked in the Salt Lake County Jail Tuesday, according to a jail clerk.

Alexander was Tinker's primary caregiver for the 2 1/2 years before her death, charges state.

Tinker lacked the strength to stand or sit and feed herself for the two weeks before she died. Investigators believe Alexander shut Tinker in her room and did not return until four days later, July 16, when she knew Tinker was dead, the charges state.

The day before Tinker died, Alexander put a note on her door stating Tinker had been fed and bathed so other family members would stay out of the room, charges state.

Police were called to the house after she died. They found Tinker's body on the floor behind her bedroom door, charges state.

The Utah State Medical Examiner's Office performed an autopsy and determined that although Tinker was emaciated, dehydrated and lacking nutrition, Morgan said, she still died of natural causes.

There was not enough evidence Alexander starved her grandmother to death to file homicide charges, Morgan said.

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E-mail: lhancock@desnews.com