ADAMSTOWN, Pa. (TCD) — A 26-year-old man is in custody after allegedly fatally strangling his 62-year-old mother.
On Monday, March 20, the Ephrata Police Department responded to a home on Grant Road to perform a welfare check, where they found Lois Gift deceased “with no obvious cause of death.”
The Lancaster County Coroner’s Officer later concluded Lois Gift died of strangulation, and her death was ruled a homicide.
Following the discovery of Gift’s body, police responded to a car crash involving a vehicle registered under her name. The driver of the car was the victim’s son, Zachary Gift, and he was transported to the hospital. Police said he lived with his mother.
On Wednesday, March 22, police said Gift told authorities he got into a physical fight with his mother in her bedroom on Sunday, March 19, “as he was attempting to steal her purse and car keys.”
Gift then allegedly smothered and strangled his mother to death and fled the scene with her purse, phone, wallet, and car keys.
According to police, Gift was arrested and charged with criminal homicide, strangulation, theft by unlawful taking, and robbery.
