'Just Let Go:' Home Health Aide Indicted On Attempted Murder Charge, DA Says

MASSAPEQUA, NY. — A home health aide in Massapequa was indicted Friday and faces attempted murder charges after she reportedly stabbed a sleeping 84-year-old woman in the torso, repeatedly telling her, “Just let go," Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said.

Prosecutors said 23-year-old Amanda Fraser was arrested on Oct. 29, after police reported that the 84-year-old woman had been stabbed in her home on Bay Drive, prompting Massapequa High School to enter a secure lockout.

Fraser was arrested and charged with one count of second-degree murder, two counts of first-degree assault, one count of second-degree assault, two counts of first-degree endangering the welfare of a vulnerable elderly person and one count of first-degree endangering the welfare of an incompetent or physically disabled person, the DA said.

If found guilty, Fraser could face up to 25 years in prison, Donnelly said.

Donnelly said that video evidence showed Fraser entering the 84-year-old’s bedroom at 2:08 a.m. on Oct. 29 and stabbing the woman, waking her up, at which point the 84-year-old attempted to remove the blade from her body. Fraser kept the blade in the woman’s body for the next 16 minutes, until she removed it at 2:24 a.m. and left the woman’s home, prosecutors said.

During this time, prosecutors say Fraser repeatedly told the 84-year-old woman, “Just let go,” and, “Stop fighting it.”

Police responded to a 911 call later that morning, arriving at the home at 8:30 a.m., at which point prosecutors say the 84-year-old was taken to Nassau University Medical Center with a puncture wound to her lung. The puncture wound was infected, keeping the woman hospitalized for nearly three weeks, the DA said.

Fraser’s attorney, Taryn Shechter, did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday.

"In the middle of the night as her elderly patient laid in her bed, this defendant allegedly brandished an approximately eight-inch blade and plunged it into the sleeping woman’s body," Donnelly said. "For an excruciating 16 minutes as the woman moaned in agony, Amanda Fraser — the woman’s home health aide — held the knife firm in her body and repeatedly whispered for the woman to succumb. When she did not die, the defendant left the home, and the woman she was employed to care for, bleeding and alone in her bed. Families rely on the skill and compassion of home health aides to care for ailing loved ones. This defendant allegedly only brought pain and horror to their lives."