BELMONT, N.C. – A 79-year-old woman was literally scared to death Friday when a suspect in the failed armed robbery of Fort Financial CU in nearby Gastonia tried to hide out in her home after fleeing the credit union.
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Gaston County Police charged Larry Whitfield, 20, with first-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping in the death of Mary Parnell, who died of an apparent heart attack after Whitfield forced his way into her house to elude a police manhunt, police said.
"She basically got scared to death," said a police spokesman.
Parnell's husband had left the home for about an hour to attend a funeral when Whitfield knocked at the door, police said.
Police caught Whitfield three houses away as he ran.
