Elderly Mother Dead After Fall Adult Daughter Charged in Sayre Pennsylvania

In a frantic 911 call from the home of Josephine Parkhurst Boice, living in Sayre Pennsylvania, her elderly mother Rose Parkhurst is heard clearly in the background saying Josey pushed me. Rose later died at Robert Packer Hospital in Sayre Pennsylvania due to injuries which occurred directly from the fall which occurred on August 22, 2007.

Rose Parkhurst, a 71-year-old grandmother died in August 22, 2007 but Wednesday March 26, 2008 her 35-year-old daughter Josephine Parkhurst Boice is charged with in connection with her mother's death.

The verdict handed down was guilty of simple assault and aggravated assault, but not guilty on the charges of involuntary manslaughter in the case of Josephine Parkhurst Boice of Sayre Pennsylvania.

According to the Morning Times of Sayre Pennsylvania, the charge of aggravated assault, which is a first-degree felony, carries a possible sentence of up to 20 years in a state prison. The simple assault and involuntary manslaughter charges, misdemeanors of the second and first degrees, carry maximum sentences of two and five years.

In the small town of Sayre, Pennsylvania a single mom Josephine Parkhurst Boice, lived with her children, also living in the home was the single mom's own elderly mother Rose Parkhurst who was not in good health.

Rose Parkhurst was a tiny woman of only five feet and weighted sixty-five pounds. She was in very poor health on that fateful night suffering from a host of illnesses including persistent emphysema, severe scoliosis, and osteoporosis, She was a frail woman who used a walker and carried an oxygen tank to aide her breathing.

Josephine Parkhurst Boice was having a heated discussion with her 10-year-old daughter on the evening because the daughter who was outside was not supposed to be out of the Sayre Pennsylvania house as she was grounded. As that discussion became more heated Rose appeared to see what the commotion involving her daughter and beloved granddaughter was about this time.

Josephine Parkhurst Boice turned around quickly for unknown reasons and in the process; she knocked the frail elderly woman down to the floor. In the fall Rose Parkhurst dislocated her hip, broke her right leg along with several ribs one of which punctured her lung. As one can imagine she was in dire need of medical assistance when the 911 call was made in Sayre Pennsylvania emergency displace center.

The granddaughter who was on the sidewalk saw her grandmother fall and told the police and a packed courtroom that she had seen her mom Josephine Parkhurst Boice push her grandma down. One can only imagine how that young girl feels now, with her mother in jail for 'making her grandma dead'. This young girl will always remember that vision which she seen that night and had to testify to against her own mother. This is a sad story, but one that needs to be told.

People assume that bad things do not happen in small rural towns like Sayre, Pennsylvania, which is a short five-minute drive to the border of New York. This is a postcard town in many areas, and for the most part is a great place to live. I live in Athens, Pennsylvania, which borders Sayre so I know the story and town well.

I have also worked with elderly people in nursing homes, and through my work at Tioga Nursing facility and Heritage Nursing home, I have seen many elderly women like Rose Parkhurst. I know first hand how fragile they can be and one simple fall can cause much damage but I wonder like many in our small town of Sayre Pennsylvania wonder if malice was a motive here.

What happens now is up to the Judge who will sentence Josephine Parkhurst Boice within the next month, but the real punishment is for that dear sweet child of Sayre Pennsylvania who will grow up without her grandma who loved her dearly.

Sources include:

http://www.morning-times.com/homepage/x1565506763

www.morning-times.com/homepage/x1012431993

http://www.thedailyreview.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19427963&BRD=2276&PAG=461&dept_id=465049&rfi=6