Tara Shibles was charged with manslaughter after her break in led to home owner’s death

A Maine woman died of shock in April after a naked intruder broke into her home and climbed into her bed, officials said.
Centralmaine.com reports that on April 2, Maine State Police and the Waldo County Sheriff’s Office responded to a call from Joyce Wood, who reported an intruder in her house at 261 South Horseback Road between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m.
Office went to the home, where they found Wood in a vehicle in the driveway and the intruder, a woman, inside the house. Wood was stricken and died in the vehicle, police said.
A spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety reportedly said Wood’s family members got to her house before police arrived, and placed the 72-year-old woman in a car outside the house in Burnham, about 40 miles southwest of Bangor. The spokesman said Wood “was stricken and died” in the car.
When police arrived, they reportedly found Tara Shibles, 37, hiding in the house and not wearing any clothes, according to the autopsy report, which also noted that police found shoes down the road that they believed were the intruder’s. A medical examiner said Wood died from coronary artery disease, triggered by the break-in.
Mark Belserene, an administrator for the medical examiner’s office, told Centralmaine.com that coronary artery disease slows blood flow to the heart and any strain on the body can lead to a “fatal event.”
“The bottom line is, it is the set-up for a heart attack,” he said.
The medical examiner determined that fright, or shock, from the intrusion was enough to cause a fatal event for Wood. Her death was ruled a homicide.

Maine State Police troopers consult with each other outside a residence Sunday on Winnecook Road in Burnham while investigating the death of Joyce Wood.

Shibles, of Thorndike, Maine, was indicted on charges of manslaughter, aggravated criminal trespass and assault. She’s currently being held at the Waldo County Jail and her trial is tentatively set for December.
Shibles was indicted in May but officials did not initially make public any details of the invasion. They came to light this week after Woods’ autopsy report was obtained through a public records request filed by the Morning Sentinel newspaper.