Authorities investigate possible elder abuse after death

Paramedic called to home found Chimayó woman in filthy conditions, report says

The death Sunday of an elderly woman at a Santa Fe hospital is being investigated as a possible case of abuse or neglect after she had been found in extremely unsanitary conditions and poor health at her home in Chimayó.

Lucille Naranjo, 85, was taken Sunday to Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center, where she died at about 4 p.m., according to a report from the Santa Fe County Sheriff ’s Office.

Officers were called to the hospital when a county paramedic who had responded to Naranjo’s home on San Buena Ventura reported a possible elder abuse case.

The sheriff ’s report said the paramedic responded to a call about a woman having abdominal pain, found

she was neglected and said he suspected her 59-year-old daughter might be responsible.

Reached by phone Thursday, the woman’s daughter declined to comment, other than to say, “They already cleared everything up.”

Sheriff ’s office spokesman Juan Ríos said Thursday the case was still being investigated and that no one had been arrested or charged. Ríos said that after the sheriff ’s office investigation is complete, it likely will be forwarded to the District Attorney’s Office and Adult Protective Services for review.

The daughter had called 911 and later called back to say the ambulance had passed by the house, the report said. The daughter also was upset that her mother was not being taken to Presbyterian Española Hospital, according to the report.

The report said the paramedic found the home to be “filthy and not properly cared for.” Naranjo was in a hospital bed, covered in urine and feces, in a small room cluttered with trash. She was moaning in pain, incoherent, could not speak and had dried blood around her mouth, the paramedic said.

Naranjo seemed too weak to move from her bed and the room did not appear to be heated, the paramedic said. She was septic and hypothermic when the paramedic took her temperature.

The report said an officer tried to speak with Naranjo’s daughter at Christus St. Vincent, but she was upset and did not want to talk about her mother, saying “she didn’t know why there was an investigation.”

The daughter told the officer she lived five minutes from her parents’ home and that she would watch them during the day and then go home at night.

While the officer was interviewing the daughter at the hospital, Naranjo went into cardiac arrest and was moved into intensive care, the report said.

After a second cardiac arrest, Naranjo died, the report said.

The officer said he tried to interview Naranjo’s 90-year-old husband at the hospital, but the man did not seem to understand the officer’s questions. A therapist from the county’s mobile crisis response team was also called to the hospital — because Adult Protective Services was not available to respond at the time — and was looking into providing services for the husband.

Sarah Jacobs, general counsel at the Aging and Long-Term Services Department, which oversees Adult Protective Services, said in an emailed statement Thursday that the department “is currently working with law enforcement to fully evaluate the circumstances surrounding this horrific tragedy and has taken immediate action to ensure the safety and well being of those affected by it.”