Sister Of Neglected Man With Down Syndrome Who Died In Montco Pleads Guilty

ABINGTON TOWNSHIP, PA — A Montgomery County woman has pleaded guilty to a felony charge of neglect of a care-dependent person in connection with a case in which she and her siblings were accused of not properly caring for their adult brother with Down Syndrome, who ultimately ended up dying at the Abington Township home they shared.

Elizabeth Anne Gramlich, 60, of the 200 block of Edge Hill Road, entered her guilty plea on Wednesday before Montgomery County Common Pleas Court Judge Wendy Demchick-Alloy, according to court records.

Sentencing has been scheduled for Nov. 10.

Elizabeth Gramlich was hit with a first-degree felony count of neglect of a care-dependent person last year after prosecutors alleged that she and her brothers, Harry Gramlich and Joseph Gramlich, failed to properly care for sibling Timothy Gramlich, who had Down Syndrome.

Elizabeth reportedly told investigators that even though she shared the Abington home with Harry Gramlich and Timothy Gramlich, it was really only Harry Gramlich who was supposed to be Timothy Gramlich's sole caretaker.

A report in the Mercury newspaper said that Montgomery County Detective John Wittenberger wrote in an arrest affidavit that Elizabeth Gramlich said Timothy Gramlich retreated to his second-story bedroom in the shared family home after their mother died in the 1990s and seemed to remain secluded away in the space ever since.

County prosecutors and Abington Township Police Chief Patrick Molloy had announced in April 2021 that Harry Gramlich, then 71 years old, was arrested in mid-April of last year and charged with third-degree murder, neglect of a care-dependent person and involuntary manslaughter in connection with the death of 52-year-old Timothy Gramlich in the fall of 2020.

According to the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office, Abington officers were sent to the Edge Hill Road home on Oct. 18, 2020, for a report of a deceased individual on the second floor of the home.

Police went upstairs to discover Timothy Gramlich dead and lying on a bare, soiled mattress.

The man's body was wrapped in an article of clothing, and both the mattress and bedroom floor were stained with bodily fluids and feces and the body appeared unclean and emaciated, the DA's office previously stated.

Harry Gramlich told police that his brother was last seen alive the previous evening.

An autopsy determined that the cause of Timothy Gramlich's death was urosepsis but that the manner of death was undetermined.

"The examination suggested Timothy Gramlich had been neglected and had he undergone routine, medical evaluations and care, his death from urosepsis could have been prevented," the DA's Office wrote in a news release at the time of Harry Gramlich's death.

Timothy Gramlich reportedly only weighed 76 pounds at the time of his death.

The two cases against Harry Gramlich and Joseph Gramlich continue to play out in Common Pleas Court.

Records show that the three cases were ultimately joined together and that the siblings are all listed as codefendants on the docket.

Records in Elizabeth Gramlich's case shows that she remains free pending sentencing on $25,000 unsecured bail.

Demchick-Alloy, the judge, has ordered a pre-sentencing investigation be completed before final disposition in Elizabeth Gramlich's case, according to court records.