A 95-year-old man has been charged with killing a maintenance worker at the assisted living facility where he resided.
On February 3rd, Okey Payne shot Ricardo Medina-Rojas in the head after accusing him of stealing $200 when the man arrived to work at Legacy Assisted Living in Lafayette, Colorado. Authorities say that Payne also waved his handgun at two people who attempted to help Medina-Rojas. He has been charged with first-degree murder and two counts of menacing with a weapon.
Police say that Payne believed workers at the facility had been stealing from him since October 2019. Two days before he murdered Medina-Rojas, Payne confronted another man for stealing the money.
During his interrogation, Payne said that he was seated in the lobby thinking of ways to get attention and stop the thefts he believed were taking place in the building. Once he spotted Medina-Rojas arrive at work, he decided to shoot the man, according to investigators.
The elderly man told investigators that he felt that employees were drugging him because of needle marks that he discovered on his toe. He also believed that his ex-wife was conspiring to steal money from him, though no evidence has been found to support these claims.
Payne is being represented by two public defenders, Kathryn Herold and William Bode. He has not yet entered a plea. A hearing will be held on May 5th to determine if there is enough evidence to put him on trial.
