SANTA CLARA — An elderly woman has been charged with fatally beating her 98-year-old nursing home roommate with a cane from her bed in December, which authorities say is the second time she tried to kill a patient at the Santa Clara facility last year.
Connie Jo Delucca, 79, faces charges of felony elder abuse and assault with a deadly weapon in the death of Vera Plares, a San Jose woman, in a Dec. 13 attack inside their room at Mission Skilled Nursing and Subacute Center on Winchester Boulevard.
Delucca is also charged with a separate count of felony elder abuse based on allegations that in April 2023 at the same facility, she tried to smother a 103-year-old woman who had been her previous roommate.
She was charged June 28 after a lengthy Santa Clara police investigation capped by forensic testing on Delucca’s cane that that found both her and Plares’ DNA on it, contributing to investigators’ conclusion that Delucca hit Plares in the head repeatedly while both women were still in bed.
Delucca was booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail in San Jose on Monday; she was scheduled for arraignment Wednesday but refused to come to court, according to multiple court officials. The hearing was rescheduled for Thursday.
According to a probable cause affidavit accompanying the criminal charges, Santa Clara police officers were called to the Mission facility Dec. 13 for an assault report. Staff members reportedly told officers that they found Plares in bed suffering from bruising and swelling on her face, and ruled out the possibility of a fall because she would have been physically unable to get back into bed had that happened.
Officers questioned Delucca; she exhibited no memory of what might have happened, and she was separated from Plares. The next day, at her family’s request, Plares was taken to Valley Medical Center, where officers conducted a follow-up interview with her grandson and documented injuries including a swollen jaw, cracked tooth and major bruising on the sides of her face and along her right arm and hand.
On Dec. 15, Plares died. An autopsy by the county Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office ruled her cause of death as being from a blunt force injury to her head compounded by cardiovascular disease.
Delucca’s cane was later submitted for forensic testing that matched her DNA to the handle of her cane and found Plares’ DNA on the other end of the cane, fueling their suspicion that Delucca was behind the injuries that killed Vera, according to the affidavit. Investigators also determined that the distance between their beds was about 23 inches and that the cane was 32 inches long, meaning it could cover that distance without either having to be out of bed.
Combined with witness accounts that no one entered their room the night of the alleged attack, detectives concluded that Delucca attacked Plares.
In light of the homicide allegations, Santa Clara police also recommended a felony charge based on a previous police visit to the Mission facility for another reported assault involving Delucca. On April 24, 2023, officers were called to the site for a report of an attempted strangulation.
That morning, a staff member walked into a room and witnessed Delucca using her hand to cover the nose and mouth of a struggling 103-year-old woman sharing the same room, according to the affidavit. Others heard the staff member’s screams for help and separated the patients.
The intervening staff member told police that when she asked Delucca what she was doing, Delucca said, “I was trying to kill her,” and when she was interviewed by a police officer, she reportedly said she wanted her roommate to “die” because she was loud at night.
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But in a later interview, Delucca said she meant that she actually wanted the victim to “be quiet,” and also gave statements suggesting that “she might be ‘crazy’ and not in her right mind,” police said.
After the April incident, Delucca was assigned to a different roommate, according to the affidavit.
In a statement to this news organization, Mission Skilled Nursing and Subacute Center said the staff is “saddened and shocked by these recent events.” Staff members also said Delucca was no longer a patient there at the time the criminal charges were filed.
“Due to confidentiality restraints regarding our resident and the fact that the matter is currently in (litigation) we are unable to comment further at this time,” the statement reads. “We are working with the resident’s family in an effort to seek resolution and will fully cooperate with applicable authorities as the matter is investigated. Covenant Care and its staff express their heartfelt condolences to the family of our resident.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
