WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (Reuters)
A Florida woman was
charged with provoking the anxiety-induced death of a
65-year-old neighbor during an argument, investigators said.
Joelle O'Neill, 41, was arrested Thursday on charges of
second-degree murder in the September 1998 heart attack death of
her neighbor, Julia Osmun.
Forensic investigator Bill Pellan said O'Neill indirectly killed
Osmun by provoking an anxiety attack that aggravated Osmun's
existing heart problems.
Witnesses told police the argument started when O'Neill wished
Osmun "Good afternoon" and Osmun snubbed her. When asked why she
had
not returned the greeting, Osmun replied with a racial slur,
the witnesses said.
O'Neill then grabbed Osmun's glasses and threw them to the
ground, struck Osmun several times, pushed Osmun into the dirt
and then exposed her buttocks toward Osmun, witnesses told
police.
Osmun got into the car of a friend who had just pulled up and
told her about the attack, records show. She initially declined
medical help, but changed her mind a few minutes later, crying
out, "Take me to the doctor
... I'm dying."
She died of a heart attack shortly afterward and the death was
eventually declared a homicide.
"There wasn't actually trauma directly leading to the death. But
had (Osmun) not been involved in this incident, she might be
alive today," Pellan told the Palm Beach Post.
O'Neill was arrested at the Palm Beach County Jail, where she
was already serving a sentence on cocaine charges.
I smell like a hippy in this outfit......
