Trial scheduled in elderly neglect case
The trial of two people accused of neglecting an elderly woman and contributing to her death in Mahanoy City has been scheduled for Jan. 15 before Schuylkill County Judge John E. Domalakes.
John F. Latshaw Jr., 59, and Dorothy Robinson, 54, are charged with third-degree murder, neglect of care of a dependent person, involuntary manslaughter and recklessly endangering another person in the August 2015 death of Latshaw’s 76-year-old mother, Elaine Latshaw.
The neglect of care charge was dropped for both.
John F. Latshaw remains free on $25,000 cash bail; Robinson remains jailed under the same amount.
An autopsy revealed that sepsis and dehydration contributed to her death.
Latshaw also suffered from untreated pressure sores on her buttocks, back and feet.
One foot was black and appeared to be mummified, according to an affidavit of probable cause.
According to an affidavit of probable cause filed by Mahanoy City police officer Thomas J. Rentschler with District Judge Anthony J. Kilker of Shenandoah, Rentschler and Mahanoy City emergency medical crews arrived at Elaine Latshaw’s home around 11 a.m. Aug. 15, 2015, after a 911 call concerning a possible death.
Robinson and John Latshaw were there, and told Rentschler that Elaine Latshaw had died.
Her room smelled strongly of urine and feces, and she was in a soaked diaper, lying in a bed on which the bare mattress was soiled with waste and blood.
An autopsy report, from Reading Hospital, stated she died from aspiration pneumonia due to multiple pressure ulcerations, gangrene and malnutrition due to hypertensive vascular disease with vascular dementia.
