Man gets life for grandmother's fatal scare

A man will spend the rest of his life in prison after he was found guilty in what prosecutors said was a case of scaring a 79-year-old North Carolina grandmother to death.

On Friday a federal jury found 21-year-old Larry Whitfield not guilty of the murder of Mary Parnell.

But they did find him guilty of causing her death by kidnapping her, and that carries an automatic life sentence.

Prosecutors say Whitfield was looking for somewhere to hide after a failed bank robbery attempt in Gastonia in September 2008 when he broke into Ms Parnell’s home.

Authorities say Whitfield never touched the grandmother, but she suffered a heart attack when she saw him, and he failed to call for help.