Jailed for scaring grandmother to death

Relevant offers

Americas

358 confirmed dead in Honduras jail fire Tuning in to TV-watching pooches Human and humanoid robot shake hands in space first Woman jailed for spiking smoothie with antifreeze US ponders steep nuclear arms cuts Money motive claim in honeymoon diving death 'Speed Freak Killers' boasted ability Grisly well find linked to 'Speed Freak Killers' 17 to hospital after hotel chemical spill Birth induced so dying dad could hold daughter

A man in the US will spend the rest of his life in prison after he was found guilty of scaring a 79-year-old North Carolina grandmother to death.

Media outlets reported that a federal jury found 21-year-old Larry Whitfield not guilty of murder in the death of Mary Parnell last year.

But they did find him guilty of causing her death by kidnapping her, and that carries an automatic life sentence.

Prosecutors say Whitfield was looking for somewhere to hide after a failed bank robbery attempt in Gastonia in September 2008 when he broke into Parnell's home.

Authorities say Whitfield never touched the grandmother, but she suffered a heart attack when she saw him, and he didn't call for help.

- AP