A 30-year-old man has been charged with the murder of his grandmother after she was found dead in her home near Long Neck over the weekend, the Delaware State Police on Tuesday said. According to the police affidavit the suspect, identified as George Albert Bailey, confessed to strangling and killing the 69-year-old victim and then trading her car for drugs. Reports state that Bailey had been living with his grandmother, identified as Lorraine Bradley, since October 10 at her Rehoboth Shores residence near Long Neck, Delaware. 

The incident occurred on October 12, Friday, when Bailey and Bradley were leaving home for the 30-year-old's probation check on a misdemeanor theft charge when the grandmother tripped while walking toward the front door and fell to the floor. Court documents state that Bailey then walked towards her and checked for a pulse, after finding a pulse, he began strangling the elderly woman with his left hand until he felt her stop breathing, according to Delmarva now.

Court documents also state that as he strangled his grandmother, he told her: "I am sorry" and that "you are going to a better place." The man then dragged his grandmother's body to the bedroom he had occupied and lay her face down on the bed. He reportedly returned the next day to the house and saw the victim's body in the same position on the bed. 

The police report stated that he left the home with Bradley's car then and did not return to the house since. He later traded the car for drugs. The court documents state that when a detective asked Bailey why he choked the victim, he said that when his grandmother fell to the ground, he saw "an opportunity to go get high and an opportunity to be by myself."

Police reportedly found the 69-year-old's body after a woman, a close friend of Bradley, reported her missing. The woman said that she hadn't heard from Bradley in at least a week. Shortly after the welfare complaint, police forced an entry into the grandmother's apartment on Saturday morning, October 20, where they found her body in a state of decomposition. Reports state that officials also found two dogs dead in the home, with no indication as to how they died.

Officials said that they noticed items had been thrown around in the house, however, there was no sign of forced entry in the house. Police said that an autopsy of the body was performed by the Delaware Division of Forensic Science, which found the cause of the death to be manual strangulation. The autopsy also ruled the death a homicide. Bailey was apprehended on October 22 at the Greenwood Inn on Sussex Highway, where he was taken into custody and was committed to Sussex Correctional Institution without incident. He has been placed on $1,002,000 cash-only bond, according to the news outlet.