‘Senseless and brutal;’ Woman who admitted to drowning 93-year-old grandmother sentenced to prison
An Eaton woman who previously admitted to killing her 93-year-old grandmother now knows how long she’ll be in jail.
News Center 7 was there Wednesday when Heidi Matheny, 35, was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison in Preble County Common Pleas Court.
Matheny pleaded guilty to one count of murder on March 3.
After her sentencing, News Center 7 spoke to Preble County Prosecuting Attorney Martin Votel.
“In prosecuting people for 25 years in this county, I have to say this is the most senseless and brutal and tragic case, one of them, that I’ve ever handled,” Votel said.
She was arrested in November after police found her grandmother, Alice Matheny, deceased in a bathtub on East Somers Street.
Eaton Police Chief Steve Hurd previously told News Center 7 that Matheny admitted to officers that she drowned her grandmother.
A police report obtained through a News Center 7 public records request stated Matheny told police that she went behind her grandmother while she was doing dishes and she held her head in the sink “until she stopped blowing bubbles.”
Matheny told police she wasn’t sure if her grandmother was dead yet so she filled up the bathtub and held her under for 15 minutes until she stopped breathing and left her in the bathtub.
>> PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Eaton woman accused of killing grandmother found competent to stand trial
Afterward, she walked from the apartment to the sheriff’s office.
Police asked Matheny what led up to the drowning and she said “nothing special, it was a day like any other day”, according to a police report.
After her competence and sanity to stand trial came into question, Matheny was ordered to be evaluated in December. She was found competent to stand trial in January.
