A Fayette County man allegedly killed his mother by giving her morphine.
Gordon Ray Sutphin II, 45, of Montgomery, is charged with murder, according to a news release from the Fayette County Sheriff's Department.
His 67-year-old mother, Lawanna Sutphin, was found dead at her home in Montgomery on July 18. Investigators later found that she had a "ridiculously large amount of morphine" in her system, even though she was not prescribed it, the release says.
Police weren't dispatched to the scene when she was found dead because she had a lengthy medical history and responders found nothing to indicate foul play, the release says.
However, the Montgomery Police Department later learned of the possibility that she could have died from too much morphine, so they contacted the chief medical examiner and the Fayette County Sheriff's Office to start an investigation into the death. The detective bureau of the Fayette County Sheriff's Office also assisted.
Investigators filed a criminal complaint charging Gordon Sutphin in the death Friday. He was arrested Friday afternoon at his home without incident, the release says, and arraigned in Fayette County Magistrate Court.
No bail was set, because only circuit judges can set bail on murder charges.
"Fortunately in this case we received information about this death in time to request that an autopsy be performed and we were able to gather the information necessary to substantiate that the cause and manner of death in this case was NOT natural or the result of a long-term illness," Fayette County Prosecuting Attorney Larry Harrah said in a news release.
Chief John Kauff thanked the sheriff's office detective bureau for providing resources and expertise needed to "fully and properly investigate a death of this nature."
"A case like this isn't something we deal with every day," he said in the release.