A North Carolina man allowed his wife to die on the floor of their home after she fell out of a wheelchair and couldn’t move for months, a jury ruled on Feb. 28..
Louis Kornhaber, 70, of Charlotte, NC, was on trial for the death of his wife, 66-year-old Bonnie Kornhaber, who died of neglect in 2021, per the Mecklenburg County District Attorney’s office.
Bonnie had returned home from a hospital visit in October 2020 when her husband tied her to her wheelchair. At some point she fell out of the wheelchair and onto the floor, according to the release, and she remained there for 6-8 months, unable to move. Kornhaber failed to call 911 for help because he said he was “embarrassed by conditions inside the house.”
On June 4, 2021, Bonnie told her husband she was having trouble breathing. Instead of calling for help, he went to watch TV in another room.
When he emerged a few hours later, he found his wife unresponsive. He finally called 911, and when first responders arrived, they discovered Bonnie dead “on a pile of trash,” and “surrounded by spoiled food,” according to the release.
Detectives on the scene described the couple’s home as a “hoarder house.”
Bonnie was “covered in her own waste, suffering from extensive sores, with insect activity present in many of the open bed sores on her body,” the DA’s office wrote.
After four days, a jury found Kornhaber guilty of both second-degree murder and neglect of a disabled or elder adult resulting in serious physical injury. He was sentenced to at least 7 years and 10 months (but no more than 10 years and 5 months) in prison for his crimes.
