Catherine Forkpa, a former caregiver at Bondurant’s Courtyard Estates at Hawthrone Crossing, is charged with second-degree in the death of a resident at the assisted living center. (Photo illustration by Iowa Capital Dispatch. Photos by Polk County Jail and Clark Kauffman/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
The murder trial of an assisted-living caregiver, originally scheduled for next week, has been moved to September.
Catherine Forkpa, 31, is charged with second-degree murder in the death of 77-year-old Lynne Stewart at Courtyard Estates at Hawthorne Crossing, an assisted living center in Bondurant. The charge carries a penalty of up to 50 years in prison.
The murder charge is highly unusual for a case involving a care-facility worker accused of neglect.
State records indicate Stewart walked out of Courtyard Estates about 9:40 p.m. on Jan. 21, 2022, triggering a series of alarms at the facility. According to police, surveillance video shows Forkpa, a caregiver at the home, walking around the facility for hours without checking on Stewart or resetting the alarm system.
Shortly after 6 a.m., workers found Stewart outside, on the ground, with her parts of her body covered in ice. She was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital. Forkpa, who had worked at Courtyard Estates for seven months, was fired and four other employees were given written warnings for their failure to respond to door alarms, according to state records.
The criminal trial was scheduled for March 6, then pushed to May 15. Last week, with prosecutors indicating that all efforts to reach a plea agreement had not yet been exhausted, the trial was rescheduled for Sept. 11.
A status hearing is scheduled for July 20.
Our stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our web site. Please see our republishing guidelines for use of photos and graphics.
Related News
