Elderly woman’s cause of death was suffocation by smothering, inquest finds

The inquest into the death of an elderly woman who died in a nursing home has found that suffocation by smothering with a pillow was the cause of death, in line with “circumstantial evidence”, even though there were no “identifiable” asphyxial signs on her body.

Veronica Vollrath, aged 83, from Tramore, Co Waterford, died in Killure Bridge nursing home outside Waterford City on January 9, 2012.

Her son, Gerard Vollrath, aged 48, was last year convicted of attempted murder and given a three-year suspended sentence.