Twin brothers left mother's body on the floor for months, police allege

[Bucky]

ugh

Twins accused in death of mother, 89
The brothers left her body on the floor for months, police allege

Twin brothers have been charged with allowing their elderly mother to die on the floor of the home where she had fallen, then leaving the body there for three months while they lived in the house.

Edward Larry Berndt and Edwin Christian Berndt, both 48, are charged with felony murder in the death of Sybil Berndt, 89, whose body was discovered inside the family home at 8402 Glenscot about 4:30 p.m. Monday, according to the Houston Police Department.

Police said Sybil Berndt had been dead since Jan. 13. Her sons said she had fallen three days earlier.

An officer was dispatched to the home after receiving a call to check on Sybil Berndt. After arriving and knocking on the door, one of the twins allowed the officer inside house, which was in "deplorable condition and smelled terribly," according to court records.

The officer found Sybil Berndt’s body lying face-down and badly decomposing on the floor in the front foyer, court records state.

The brothers told investigators they were their mother’s caregivers. According to court records, they told police they were trying to watch the BCS Championship football game on Jan. 10 when their mother came in the room "ranting and raving."

The brothers told police that’s when their mother fell and did not get up. The pair then decided that they did not have the money to provide medical treatment for the woman and decided to leave her on the floor, without providing her with food or water, court records state.

Edwin Berndt told investigators that his mother was conscious for about a day after she fell and that she died two days later, a day after her 89th birthday.

Because they said they also did not have the money for the funeral, they told police they left her on the floor after she died.

[petronius]

1. That's one police officer who earned every penny of his/her paycheck that day

What a thing to walk in on... :(

(Not to mention a horrible way to die, of course.)

[anneboleyn]

2. Seriously, I can't believe some of the disgusting stuff our police have to deal with in a day's work

This story is just...ugh. Three months? Just...ugh.

[davsand]

3. Clearly there are some pretty serious mental health issues at work here.

As horrible as this all is, I just can't stop thinking about the issues faced by those two men--and that entire family, it sounds like.

We all feel disgust and anger at anyone leaving a family member to die on the floor, but there is another issue at work here that those two are now probably without any help at all short of prison.

How very tragic, and how typical of our world today.




Laura

[Kali]

4. damn

since this is the lounge I had a smart ass remark about my two sons being slobs that just step over messes too, but I guess I better not.

[snooper2]

5. After reading the story

nm

[Mosby]

6. Why is this in the lounge?

"They didn't seem to have any real remorse for their mother," Torres said. "I think they were more concerned with what was going to happen to them."

Torres said both men spoke clearly with a bit of Southern drawl and seemed fairly intelligent. Both men graduated from high school - Edwin attended Milby High School, while Edward went to Lyndon B. Johnson High where he was in a program for gifted children.

When they spoke to investigators, they wore blank stares. Both men told investigators they never tried to help their mother, Torres said. When investigators asked them why, their reply: She never asked us to.

This is a new type of sociopathy, and I believe we are going to see more incidents like this where adult children who have been living for years at home on there parents dime lose complete touch with reality.