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Police say the men allowed Sybil Berndt to die on the floor in their foyer after she fell, then lived with her decomposing, bug-infested corpse for three months.
Edwin Larry Berndt and his brother, Edward Christian Berndt, both 48, were arrested Monday when police went to check on their mother, prompted by a neighbor who called to say the elderly woman had not been seen since January.
Edwin Berndt answered the officer's knocks and initially said "everyone was fine and there was no need for the police at their home," according to court documents. The officer insisted she had to see Berndt's mother and he let her into the house.
The home was in "deplorable condition and smelled terribly," and the elderly Berndt was lying face down on the floor of the foyer, according to the documents. Sybil Berndt was dressed in a nightgown pulled up under her arms and was not wearing underwear. The body was in an advanced state of decomposition and insects were crawling around it, the documents said.
