Inset: Kayla Rose Bessette (Charlotte-Mecklenburg Jail). Background: Food Lion at 3009 The Plaza in Charlotte, North Carolina (Google Maps).
A North Carolina woman "smiled with satisfaction" when asked if she was trying to kill the 79-year-old man she followed home from a grocery store, then broke into his home and strangled him, cops say.
Kayla Rose Bessette, 36, is charged with attempted murder, breaking and entering, robbery and assault by strangulation.
Officers with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department responded to an apartment Saturday in the 1400 block of Murdock Road for a robbery call, a probable cause arrest affidavit said.
The victim told cops he was walking home from a Food Lion grocery store located at 3009 The Plaza in Charlotte when a woman asking for money began following him.
When he arrived home, he tried to close the front door, but Bessette forced her way inside, the affidavit stated. She allegedly pushed him onto his bed, jumped on top of him and began to strangle him.
According to the complaint, Bessette then reached into the victim's pockets and "took all his money and left his home."
Detectives found the suspect at a bus stop near the grocery store. She had bloody hands. Investigators also recovered video from the Food Lion showing the suspect.
After receiving her Miranda warnings, Bessette allegedly admitted to breaking into the victim's home and trying to kill him while stealing his money.
"Bessette was asked if her intent was to kill [the victim] and she did not deny attempting to kill him and smiled with satisfaction when asked if that was her intent," cops wrote. "Bessette stated multiple times that she did not regret what she did and that the victim deserved it."
The suspect was arrested and taken to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Jail, where she is being held without bond. Her next court date is set for June 16.