NH - Alice Keyho, 85, beaten to death, Hampton, 19 March 2004 *Insanity*

For close to a decade, Helen Garland took care of her older sister: giving her a home, doing her shopping, fixing her meals and snacks. Alice Keyho liked hot chocolate and the grilled cheese sandwiches her sister made by toasting the bread first then using the microwave to melt the cheese.
On March 19, 2004, Garland served her 85-year-old sister a double order of oatmeal for breakfast, and gravy-topped hamburger and onions with leftover mashed potatoes for lunch.

But in the midst of their mundane routine that day, something terrible happened.

Authorities say Garland broke 22 of Keyho's ribs and backhanded her so hard the imprints of her rings were left in her sister's face. An autopsy also revealed bleeding between Keyho's brain and skull and rug burns along her back from being dragged across the floor after she died.

Garland, 75, was charged with second-degree murder, but her trial has been delayed over questions about her competency. She has shown signs of dementia and will be evaluated. In the meantime, she continues to live in the small blue ranch-style home she shared with her sister.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20050813-0917-hersisterskeeper.html

Something about this is odd to me. Maybe the accused sister was some sort of victim too. All from a long time of interactions that will probably never come to fore.I am almost aways a crime victim's advocate but I am registering on something....not clear yet!

I don't know the whole thing is so sad. They think she has some dementia and when that happens sometimes there is somestimes a violence that comes out.
She sounds like an old woman who just wanted to be left alone, but there was no one else to care for her sister. Instead of putting her into a nursing home, she tried to care for her. But with her own deterioration, it would have been getting hard, she would have had less tolerance.

An elderly Hampton woman accused of killing her sister told a psychiatrist she will commit suicide if convicted, the doctor testified yesterday at a hearing to determine whether Helen Garland is competent to stand trial.

Garland, 75, is accused of beating Alice Keyho, 85, to death in their home in March 2004, but her second-degree murder trial has been delayed over questions about whether she understands the charges and can assist in her defense.

Garland appeared alert and attentive during the 2½-hour court appearance before Rockingham County Superior Court Judge Patricia Coffey.

Dr. Albert Drukteinis, who spent several hours with Garland in March and reviewed her medical records, said she has a fairly good grasp of the facts of the case and how the legal system works, but suffers from a mild cognitive disorder that would make it difficult for her to defend herself.
http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_showfast.html?article=59855

From December 2011:

http://www.seacoastonline.com/article/20111209/NEWS/112090425

Helen Garland, who was known for her community involvement before gaining notoriety when she was accused of killing her sister in 2005, has died.

Garland, 85, died Friday, Dec. 2, in Glencliff, according to her obituary.

Garland was committed in 2007 to the state psychiatric hospital after being found incompetent to stand trial in the death of her 85-year-old sister, Alice Keyho, in March 2004.

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