I saw this story on social media and looked up some news sources for it - and got an AI update.
That poor family!!!!
Nora Rowland states that her 75-year-old father, Robert—who suffered from Parkinson’s disease and a brain injury—was a vulnerable adult who did not understand what he was signing. She claims his nurse, Sarah Smalls (employed through Griswold Home Care), had the deed to his Conway, South Carolina home signed over to herself weeks before his death without notifying the family.
"CONWAY, SC (WMBF) - A Conway man’s daughter says his caretaker had the deed to his home signed over to herself weeks before his death and didn’t tell her until after he was gone.
Nora Rowland said nurse Sarah Smalls began caring for her 75-year-old father, Robert, through Griswold Home Care in March 2024.
Rowland, who lives in Maryland, said shortly after her dad came under Smalls’ care, she began hearing less and less from him, which was highly unusual.
“My dad was always a daddy’s girl type thing, so it was always me and him throughout my whole life,” Rowland said. “We FaceTimed every week.”
Rowland said she got worried after not hearing from him on Father’s Day, so she drove from Baltimore, Maryland, to Conway to check on him.
When she arrived at his house, Rowland said she found the front door had been changed and a Ring doorbell camera had been installed.
Rowland said she pressed the doorbell and Smalls answered through the Ring camera, with news no daughter ever wants to hear.
“She tells me, ‘This isn’t the way that I wanted to tell you, but your dad died, and there’s a bunch of other stuff I have to tell you too. Just wait there,’” Rowland said.
Rowland found out her father had been dead for three days. She said she panicked and used a window kept unlocked for emergencies to get inside."
Instead, Rowland said Smalls accused her of breaking in and called the cops on her.
Rowland said when Conway police arrived, to her surprise, Smalls showed officers the deed showing the house in Smalls’ name and treated Rowland and her partner as the ones trespassing.
“I’m walking out of the house expecting them to come and help, and they put me and my partner in handcuffs immediately,” Rowland said. “I just kept saying, ‘I don’t know what’s going on; this is my dad’s house. My dad is dead.’”
Police body camera footage shows a neighbor telling officers he had been worried for weeks about what he was seeing next door.
“She [Smalls] was allegedly coming here during the day and taking care of him, and one day she started moving furniture out, and he disappeared,” the neighbor said. “She was only in here a very short time, and Bob, he was not within his wits at all. You could’ve talked him into just about anything. I even called senior services and asked them to look into it.”
Documents show changes to Robert’s affairs in the months before his death, Rowland said, all without her knowledge.
In March 2024, Smalls began caring for him through Griswold Home Care.
By the end of that month, he was moved into a senior living facility.
In April, papers named Smalls as his power of attorney. On April 17, a quitclaim deed transferred his Conway home to her for five dollars.
Bank statements also show money transfers from Robert’s account to Smalls, including after he died.
WMBF News went to Smalls’ home to ask about the deed and the power of attorney.
Smalls told WMBF News to contact her lawyer and then called police on our crews. Smalls did not give WMBF her attorney’s information.
WMBF News reached out to Griswold Home Care months ago. A representative said they had no knowledge of the situation. Rowland provided documents obtained through subpoena that she says show otherwise.
WMBF News attempted to reach Griswold again this week; the calls were not returned.
From AI:
Current Legal Status: Rowland is currently fighting to challenge the validity of the deed in court. While separate, unrelated criminal charges against Rowland herself were dismissed, the police investigation into the caretaker's actions and the deed transfer remains open.
