Woman in Orange Park assisted living facility shot 3 people in 1986

Carole Kendrick was recently moved to Astoria Assisted Living in Orange Park.

ORANGE PARK, Fla. – A resident of an Orange Park assisted living facility was shocked to learn that a fellow resident stood trial for shooting three people -- two of them fatally -- 24 years ago.

Paul Michel contacted the I-TEAM after learning 59-year-old Carole Kendrick, his new neighbor, was found not guilty by reason of insanity in the 1986 deaths of 65-year-old Andrew Puryear and 64-year-old Aggie Puryear in Escambia County. She was also found not guilty by reason of insanity for shooting their 21-year-old grandson, Rodney.

“A woman who’s responsible for the deaths of two people and the shooting of another person who survived over alleged fear that they were practicing voodoo or some sort,” Michel said.

Kendrick had been housed at a facility on Hilliard under the terms of a “conditional release” agreement signed by a judge. Months ago, Kendrick was moved to Astoria Assisted Living in Orange Park.

“I can handle my own. I’m more concerned for other residents here. We have residents 95 years old. We have residents that can’t even push their wheelchair to and from the meal. They’re at much more significant disadvantage,” Michel said.

Placing Kendrick in the Orange Park home led to a difficult decision for management of that facility.

News4jax spoke with the Executive Director at Astoria who said the company they use for placement of residents failed to tell them about Kendrick's background.

“She was referred to us by a major referral company. I’m not going to mention names, but it’s a referral company that I’ve done business with since we opened and I’ve never had any problems with any residents that they brought in.," said Harry Mangini, executive director of Astoria. “Although this woman had problems and supposedly did things since she’s been here, just like every other facility -- different personalities conflict and she’s had problems --but she’s been part of the family here.”

Mangini said the complex has been working for the past month to relocate her and finally has made arrangements to move her this week to a different facility that’s aware of her background.

Mangini said his facility has typically not done background checks on elderly women, but will start in light of this recent incident.

“We’re changing the way we bring people in. We’re going to start doing a little bit of a background check and move on from there,” he said.

Mangini added while there have been concerns about Kendrick, she has not threatened to harm anyone in the facility.


About the Author:

Scott is a multi-Emmy Award Winning Anchor and Reporter, who also hosts the “Going Ringside With The Local Station” Podcast. Scott has been a journalist for 25 years, covering stories including six presidential elections, multiple space shuttle launches and dozens of high-profile murder trials.