The badly slashed body of an 81-year-old woman was found dead in her Munster, Ind., home, and police said Friday they had taken into custody a woman who lived with the victim.
“This is an isolated incident, believed to be a domestic incident,” Munster Police Lt. Kurt Matz said. “There’s no need for the public to panic.”
The living room where Margaret Mary Roberts Jansky, of the 8100 block of Highland Place in Munster, was found was “a gruesome crime scene,” he said.
Lake County Coroner David Pastrick would not confirm reports from other county law-enforcement officials that Jansky had been beheaded, but he said she had suffered “multiple penetrating injuries throughout the body.”
Jansky’s body had been decomposing almost a week before it was discovered Friday morning by Munster police officers responding to an anonymous request that police make a well-being check at the address, Pastrick and Matz said.
When no one answered the door, the officers kicked it in, finding Jansky’s body and a woman who also lived in the home, Matz said.
An autopsy was scheduled for Saturday morning. Matz said he expected charges Saturday.
