VERNON – A coroner’s investigation into the killing of a Vernon man at the hands of his roommate resulted in no suggestions to help prevent a similar incident in the future.
In August 2013, William George May, 85, was found dead in his bed by a worker at the Vernon hospital’s Polson Special Care Unit for people with advanced dementia or serious behavioural issues.
Eight days earlier, 94-year-old John “Jack” Furman had been moved into the room.
After hearing a noise in the men’s room, a care aide went to investigate.
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“When she entered the room she found Mr. May lying with his head at the foot of his bed and his roommate standing beside him holding a blood-covered shelf from a wardrobe above his head as though to strike Mr. May,” states coroner Margaret Janzen.
Furman was a decorated special forces member in the Second World War who had been involved in hand-to-hand combat.
While holding the shelf Furman was agitated, speaking angrily, referring to “bunkers” and suggesting the nurse was “one of them.”
He threatened care unit staff with the shelf when they tried to intervene.
Police then arrived to arrest Furman.
He was charged with second-degree murder but the charge was stayed after the Crown determined Furman was in a delusional state at the time of the killing.
Furman has since passed away.
The coroner classified May’s blunt-force trauma death as a homicide and she made no recommendations.
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