Mother of 9/11 victim found murdered and encased in concrete in her own basement

A 53-year-old South Carolina woman has been arrested after the woman she was caring for was found dead

The caretaker of a 70-year-old North Carolina woman found encased in concrete in her own basement has been charged with murder, according to local authorities.

Lynn Gay Keene, a widow whose son was killed in the 9/11 attacks, had been missing since June. Authorities on Saturday arrested her live-in caretaker, 53-year-old Elizabeth Carserino – also known as Elizabeth Freeman – on outstanding warrants for vehicle larceny, identity theft and financial card theft charges, according to a press release from Avery County Sheriff Kevin Frye.

Carserino, of Goose Creek, SC, was subsequently charged with murder and booked into Avery County jail on secured bond of more than $1.6million – and her first court appearance could be as soon as Monday.

She had been taking care of Mrs Keene in Linville Falls in western North Carolina. The 70-year-old had last had contact with family in June and officials filed a missing person’s report July 30; subsequent investigations discovered her car missing.

Eventually, authorities found a mass of hardened concrete in Keene’s basement. An autopsy and dental records confirmed that human remains contained within the concrete belonged to Keene.

“The autopsy also concluded that the cause of death was homicide and that Keene did not die of natural causes,” the sheriff’s office said in a release.

John Thompson, Mrs Keene’s neighbor and friend, told the local NBC affiliate that her husband had died about two years ago and remembered her love of Prince and the Grateful Dead. In addition to the death of her husband and son, he said, she’d lost her mother last year.

“That’s a lot for one person to take on,” he told NBC. “It’s just ... it’s not fair. Nobody should have to go through that.”