Palm Desert caretaker sentenced for overdose murder of 69-year-old

A Palm Desert woman was sentenced on Monday for the 2016 murder of a 69-year-old woman in her care.

Marilyn Joy Zemek, 62, was sentenced to a total of 30 years to life in prison after being convicted of first-degree murder, elder abuse causing death, two counts of grand theft, identity theft, and perjury.

The jury also found true a sentence enhancing of taking more than $100,000 during the commission of two felonies involving fraud.

Zemek became the paid caregiver of Pamelia Sue Heislar-Powell, 69, of Indio in April 2016. On June 17, 2016, Heislar-Powell was found dead.

Heislar-Powell had serious health conditions and could not care for herself. She had also overdosed on her seizure medication not long before Zemek was hired.

Zemek and Powell met at a Palm Desert “Botox party” in late 2015, and “within a few weeks, Zemek managed to become a major part of Powell’s life,” according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

Heislar-Powell overdosed again while under Zemek's care. This incident led to Heislar-Powell being hospitalized and later placed into a skilled nursing facility.

Prosecutors said that Heislar-Powell was not allowed to make medical decisions for herself, but was signed out of a medical facility in late May against her doctor's advice at Zemek's behest.

One week prior to her death, the victim drafted a new will giving Zemek power of attorney and naming her as the beneficiary on Powell's Edward Jones brokerage account and the recipient of all her possessions, including "every item in the victim's house,'' court documents say.

The new will superseded one that Powell drafted in November 2015 naming
several others as her beneficiaries, according to court documents. Zemek was not among those listed in that document.

After the new will was drafted, Zemek left Heislar-Powell alone with medications she was no longer supposed to take.

According to court documents, in the months prior to Heislar-Powell’s death, her health deteriorated rapidly, with three hospitalizations due to phenobarbital overdoses or intoxication that led her doctor to remove the drug from her medication list in April 2016.

Prosecutors said that after Zemek became Powell's primary caretaker, she continued providing the drug to Powell, who suffered "altered mental states, disorientation, delusions and confusion'' during hospital stays in early 2016, according to medical records and accounts from Powell's neighbors and friends.

Heislar-Powell died after overdosing on phenobarbital.

Neighbors said Zemek was inside Heislar-Powell's home at Avenida Viesca in Indio for about 90 minutes before calling 911 to report her death, the affidavit says.

Following Heislar-Powell’s death, investigators found that more than 100 charges, totaling nearly $8,000, were made on her credit card, according to the declaration. When the account was frozen, Zemek successfully restored access to the account by claiming she was Powell. She was allegedly captured on video footage making some of the purchases on Powell’s credit card.

Zemek also filed probate paperwork in Nevada to become appointed special administrator to Powell’s estate and “withdrew $201,634 in three cashier’s checks made out to herself from Powell’s account,” the affidavit alleges.

Zemek was arrested on June 12, 2018 by Indio police near Frank Sinatra Drive and Portola Avenue in Palm Desert.