Great-grandmother found strangled in home after missing daughter’s pickup at the airport: ‘Took my heart away’

A Washington state great-grandmother was found strangled in her home hours after her frantic daughter landed at a nearby airport where they had planned to meet.

Patricia Jimerfield, a 78-year-old retired nurse living in Vancouver, Wash., was killed in her home last Tuesday, authorities said.

Her daughter, Stephanie Ayersman, had been texting with her mother just before leaving Phoenix and had no idea what to make of Jimerfield’s radio silence when she landed at the Portland International Airport on Wednesday morning.

“I told mom I was taking off and she ‘hearted’ it, so I knew she saw it,” Ayersman told KATU2. 

“But she never responded. I texted, texted, texted, I called her home, I called her cell number, no answer. I waited about an hour.”

Ayersman called her aunt, who rushed to Jimerfield’s home — where she found her “lying on the floor face down,” she told the local outlet.

The Clark County Medical Examiner’s Office determined that Jimerfield had been strangled with a wire or cord, according to Law & Crime.

There were no signs of forced entry into the residence, but Ayersman believes that her mother was targeted in the attack.

“I don’t know, it feels personal. It feels personal,” she told KOIN.

Jimerfield’s home had been robbed just the day before she was murdered, Ayersman said. The retired nurse had filed a fraud report just that morning when she realized her wallet was missing and found some unusual bank charges.

It is unclear if the two crimes are connected.

“They took away my heart, my rock, my soul, and I don’t know how to go on,” Ayersman told KPTV. 

“If anyone sees anything, saw anything, knows anything please call the police, I really want whoever did this to get caught.”

Police have not arrested or publicly identified any suspects. Investigations into the homicide are ongoing.