- April 24, 2024
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The Flagler County Sheriff's Office's Cold Case Unit has arrested a 64-year-old woman for manslaughter in the 2018 death by starvation of the woman's disabled mother. It is the Cold Case Unit's first solved case.
"If you are responsible for a human being’s care, you must take care of them. No matter how long it takes, we will continue these investigations to hold people accountable for their crimes.”
— RICK STALY, Flagler County sheriff
Family members told detectives that the suspect had collected money weekly ostensibly for the victim's food, but then isolated the victim and refused to let other family members see her.
The suspect, Kim Zaheer, had called 911 on Dec. 5, 2018, to report that her 85-year-old her mother, Frances King, needed an ambulance and that she was “not breathing.”
FCSO deputies and paramedics arrived at the residence and discovered King deceased. King was extremely malnourished and appeared to have not eaten in a long time. Deputies also noted the living conditions inside King’s bedroom were “extremely bad” and the odor of feces and urine was unbearable. A black garbage bag had been taped to King with duct tape as a makeshift diaper.
The District 23 Medical Examiner’s Office was contacted, and an autopsy was complete. It found that King had lost 53.8 pounds, or 52% of her body weight, over four years.
The cause of death was determined to be “Severe Emaciation and Emphysematous Cystitis” due to “Elder Abuse, Neglect and Starvation.”
The medical examiner ruled King’s death a homicide.
The initial investigation stalled when detectives encountered difficulty obtaining medical and legal records to establish that the victim had a diminished mental capacity and that Zaheer was the party legally responsible for her care.
In the summer of 2020, Sheriff Rick Staly created a full-time Cold Case Unit, the first in agency history, to focus on unsolved sex crimes, missing persons, homicides and any other unsolved violent crime where the statute of limitations had not expired.
Detective Andrew Cangialosi was selected as the first full-time Cold Case detective and works closely with the FCSO Crime Scene Unit, the 7th Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office Homicide Investigations Unit, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Florida Sheriff’s Association Cold Case Advisory Committee and the Medical Examiner’s Office.
In March 2020, Cangialosi was assigned the Frances King manslaughter case.
Cangialosi was eventually able to locate a “Certificate of Incapacity” and determine that King’s daughter, Zaheer, was the “primary care surrogate” for King at the time of her death.
It was also determined that the last time King visited her primary care doctor was in November 2017.
Other family members said that Zaheer had been given about $200 weekly for King's food, but that she refused to let other family members see King and had kicked ther family members out of the house and changed the locks.
On March 31, Cangialosi obtained an arrest warrant for Zaheer for Aggravated Manslaughter.
“Cases like these and the small list of other unsolved cases of homicides, missing persons, and sex crimes are what led to the creation of the Cold Case Unit,” Staly said. “I am grateful that we were able to arrest the suspect in this case and hopefully this can offer some closure to family and friends of the victim. If you are responsible for a human being’s care, you must take care of them. No matter how long it takes, we will continue these investigations to hold people accountable for their crimes.”
The FCSO arrested Zaheer on March 31and transported her to the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility.
She is charged with Manslaughter of an Elderly Disabled Adult and is being held on a $500,000 bond.
